Grenadiers Fall To St. Mary-Of-The-Woods In A Five Set Thriller Tuesday

By Press release submission

Oct 8, 2022

The IU Southeast volleyball team fell to St. Mary-of-the-Woods in five sets on Tuesday.

The Grenadiers fell behind early in the first set but fought back to tie the set 12-12. With the set deadlocked at 16-16, IU Southeast used a 5-0 run, aided by four SWMC errors, to take a 21-16 lead. The Grenadiers went on to take the first set 25-21.

St. Mary-of-the-Woods jumped out to an 8-3 advantage in the second set, but IU Southeast used a 5-0 run to tie the set at 8-8. Up 15-13, the Pomeroys scored five straight points to make it 20-13. St. Mary-of-the-Woods would go on to take the second set 25-15.

The Grenadiers, trailing 10-7 in the third set, used a 3-0 run to tie the set at 10-10. The Pomeroys used several 3-0 runs of their own to extend their lead to 14-11 and 19-16. After IU Southeast closed the gap to 19-17, St. Mary-of-the-Woods scored four straight points to extend the lead to 23-17. IU Southeast was able to make it 24-21, but an attack error gave the Pomeroys the third set victory 25-21.

A service error by IU Southeast gave St. Mary-of-the-Woods a 9-8 lead in the fourth set. The Grenadiers responded, going on an 8-2 run to take a 16-11 lead. Jessi Kramer had two blocks and a kill to help spark the rally. The Pomeroys were able to cut the lead to 16-13, but IU Southeast answered with three straight points to take a 19-13 advantage. The Grenadiers closed the fourth set on a 4-0 run to take the set 25-15 and tie the match at 2-2. IU Southeast committed just two attack errors in the fourth set which helped them pull away and force a fifth set.

The fifth set began with four straight points by IU Southeast. The two teams exchanged 3-0 runs, giving the Grenadiers a 7-3 lead. Two Kramer kills and a kill by Maggie Purichia helped IU Southeast pull away. An 8-4 run by the Pomeroys tied the final set 11-11. The Grenadiers forced set point at 14-13 and 15-14 on a service error and kill by Maggie Purichia, respectively. But St. Mary-of-the-Woods closed the set on a 3-0 run to take the final set 17-15 and the match 3-2.

Ella Brooks led the Grenadiers with a career-high 20 kills. Jessi Kramer was second with eight. Hannah Brown contributed 21 assists to lead IU Southeast. Cate Murphy added 16. Averee Yoder led the Grenadiers with 27 digs, followed by Ella Brooks with 26 and Lexi Striegel with 19. IU Southeast had four aces on the night, two from Cate Murphy and one each from Lexi Striegel and Averee Yoder.

The Grenadiers (9-8, 5-3 RSC) return home to battle RSC foe IU East on Friday.