VALPARAISO, Ind. – Indiana State volleyball saw its season come to a close Thursday night in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship opening round, falling to Toledo in five sets (25-12, 24-26, 25-22, 18-25, 5-15) at the ARC on the campus of Valparaiso.
 
It marked the first postseason tournament appearance for Indiana State in program history as the team finished 18-13 overall on the season – the most wins for the Sycamores since the 1982 season.
 
Indiana State outhit the Rockets .226 to .255, but Toledo was able to take advantage of the ISU's receive with 10 aces in the match. Two Sycamores finished with double-digit kills in the match led by Karinna Gall's 13 kills on 28 attacks. Freshman Storm Suhre added 10 kills for the Sycamores on just 21 kills.
 
Chloe Mason had a team-high 23 assists while freshman Emma Kaelin added 19 assists and six digs.
 
Defensively ISU was sound for much of the match, especially in the first set as ISU out-blocked Toledo at the net 5-0 led by Kylie Newby (3), Mallory Keller (2) and Jamie Brown (2). Newby finished with a team-high seven blocks while Brown added six of her own as ISU edged Toledo 14-10 in blocks. Melina Tedrow recorded 15 of ISU's 52 digs to lead the team.
 
It was all Indiana State in the opening frame as the Sycamores outhit Toledo, .550 to .000. ISU was stout on defense, sending back five Rocket attacks. Indiana State took the lead on a 6-0 run and never looked back as they cruised to the set win. Karinna Gall led the team with three kills on four attacks.
 
It was a much more competitive second set as the two squads went back-and-forth with 13 ties and five lead changes. Trailing 12-11, Indiana State went on a 5-1 run before the Rockets answered back with a run of their own to take a 21-18 lead. ISU rallied once again as Newby tied the match at 24 with a kill from the middle before Toledo picked up back-to-back kills to take the set.
 
It was much of the same in set three as the teams battled before ISU reeled off five-straight points to take a 19-16 lead and never looked back as the team took a 2-1 lead in the set. Toledo was able to keep the offense off-balance in the fourth set as the Rockets had four players with two or more kills led by Uluave Sinalauli'i who had five. Toledo led throughout the entirety of the set, outhitting Indiana State .241 to .154.
 
The Rockets raced out to an 8-2 lead in the fifth and final set en route to the comeback win.
 
Sinalauli'i was one of three Rocket hitters with double-digit kills with 20 on the night. Taylor Alt had 16 while Olivia Vance added 10.
 
The Sycamores will look to build on the success of the fall as they are set to return the bulk of their experience including three freshmen that saw action in a combined 245 sets. 
 
For the latest information on the Sycamore Volleyball team, make sure to check out GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Fans can also receive updates on Sycamore Athletics by downloading the March On App from both the App Store and the Google Play Store.