TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - The Sycamores got off to a slow start and couldn't recover as the Western Illinois Fighting Leathernecks dropped Indiana State 3-0 (25-17, 25-20, 28-26) in the final game of Saturday's action in the Drury Inn/ASICS Volleyball Challenge.
The Sycamores fell to 4-2 on the season with the loss and will meet the Cougars of SIU Edwardsville at 2 p.m. Sunday in the final game of the tournament. Western Illinois (5-2) will play Savannah State in the opening game at 11 a.m.
Junior Morgan Dall had 23 kills to pace the Sycamores but she was the only one in double figures. Sophomore Monique Morris had eight with freshman Kyla Thomas and senior Stacy Qualizza each knocking down five. Senior Shelby Fouty had 38 assists and senior Kiya James added 21 digs. Thomas also had two blocks on the night.
The opening set was tied seven times with three lead changes but they all came early. The Leathernecks broke the final tie at seven with three straight points and the Sycamores could not get back even and fell 25-17. Western Illinois dominated the second set as they jumped out to a 5-0 lead and never looked back. Indiana State tried to fight back and got as close as four late in the second but could not pull even and fell behind 2-0 with a 25-20 setback.
Indiana State appeared to wake up in the third set and led 12-11 after a Thomas kill. Western Illinois came back with both sides exchanging points through the mid-portion of the set. A kill by Dall gave ISU the lead of the set at 24-23 before the Leathernecks scored two straight to gain the advantage. The Sycamores came back on a Fouty kill who then combined with Thomas for a block to put ISU up 26-25. However, Western Illinois scored the final three points of the set to take the win 28-26 and defeat Indiana State three sets to none.
