Ace Hunt

GoSycamores.com

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Indiana State used victories over host Samford and Nicholls State to earn the 2016 Marriott Invitational Championship. The Sycamores continued its strong play on the defensive side of the net and used a sparkling .396 attack percentage to record a 3-0 sweep over Nicholls State on Saturday.

"Overall, I couldn't be more proud of how the team responded after the South Alabama loss," ninth-year head coach Traci Dahl-Skinner commented. "They took it very hard and knew that change was needed in order to get back on track. They made those changes and they made them quickly. I am looking forward to getting better this week in practice and hitting the road to West Virginia. We have big plans for this season and this weekend was a good indicator on what this team can and will do."  

The Sycamores conclude the first weekend of the season with a 2-1 record while Nicholls State fell to 0-3. Indiana State's defense has been superb to start the season and have not allowed an opponent to reach the 20-point mark in each of the last eight sets, while winning seven of them. Nicholls State was limited to just a .111 attack percentage in Saturday's match.

Rachel Griffin was named the Most Valuable Player of the Marriott Invitational while Bree Spangler was also named to the all-tournament team.

"Rachel was outstanding this weekend," Dahl-Skinner said. "She has many options to go to and did a great job distributing the ball evenly. Throughout the weekend she became an offensive threat as well which is something that we will need more of going into this next weekend. Bree did a fantastic job not only in the front row but the back row as well. Her passing accuracy was a big reason we were so successful. She has worked really hard to get back into rhythm and it showed this weekend." 

Bree Spangler recorded a double-double with 11 kills and 12 digs while posting a .308 attack percentage. Cassie Kawa was credited with a career-high 10 kills with no errors and 13 attempts to finish with an attack percentage of .769. Rachel Griffin led the way with 38 assists plus five kills and Shannon Murphy posted 11 digs. The Sycamores were strong again at the net with a total of seven blocks in the match.

Indiana State won each of the three sets by the scores of: 25-13, 25-19, 25-16. It marked the second consecutive sweep for the Sycamores who won in three sets on Friday night over host Samford.

In the first set, the Sycamores scored the first point but fell behind by as many as four points on two seperate occasions, including by 9-5. Rachel Griffin got the comeback started with a kill and then had a service ace before tying the set at 9. After a Nicholls State points, the Sycamores went on an impressive run in which they scored 11 consecutive points and forced NSU to burn both of their timeouts during the serve of Stephanie Bindernagel. Bindernagel had two aces during the stretch and a kill by freshman Damadj Johnson staked ISU to a 20-10 advantage. Freshman Cassie Kawa finished off Nicholls State with a kill for the 25-13 victory.

The Sycamores got out to a quick 2-0 advantage in the second set on a pair of attack errors by Nicholls State. NSU and Indiana State were neck-and-neck for most of the early part of the set and Nicholls State took a brief 16-15 lead. With the score tied at 17, a kill by Melody Burdette began a 5-0 run which Burdette ended with another kill for the 22-17 advantage. A kill from Johnson gave the Sycamores a set point situation and once again Kawa recorded a kill to give the Sycamores a 25-19 win in set two.

Indiana State led 12-10 in the third set by a service ace and then a kill from Kynedi Nalls pushed ISU ahead by four. The spurt concluded at four points in a row to stake the Sycamores to a 16-10 lead. Nicholls State scored the next two points, but Griffin and Kawa recorded kills as well as a NSU error pushed Indiana State back ahead 19-12. Kawa made it four points in a row for the Sycamores with another kill and another NSU error capped the 5-0 run for the 21-12 lead. A kill by Johnson gave the Sycamores a 24-15 lead before Spangler finished it off with a kill and the 25-16 victory.

Indiana State returns to action on Friday, September 2 when they travel to the Capital Classic in Charleston, W.V. The Sycamores will face West Virginia at 10 a.m. (ET) before taking on Morehead State at 5 p.m. On Saturday, the Sycamores will take battle Marshall at 1:00 p.m.