Volleyball Splits on Final Day of Holiday Inn Express Preseason Tournament
LA CROSSE, Wisc. – On day two of the Holiday Inn Express Preseason Tournament, hosted by Viterbo, Indiana University South Bend volleyball split its pair of matches. The Titans came from behind against Mayville State, winning in five (20-25, 26-24, 20-25, 25-20, 15-11) for their first win of the season before falling to Clarke University in three sets on Saturday, Aug. 24.
With the split, IU South Bend now has an overall record of 1-2 and will head back to South Bend. The Titans prepare for their first home game on Thursday, Sept. 5 at 7:00 p.m. inside the Student Activities Center.
On the day, IUSB as a team hit .126 while its opponents recorded a .194 attacking percentage. Senior Sydney Lubinski in two matches registered 31 kills, averaging 3.88 per set while senior teammate Robbie Berg added 21 kills, averaging 2.62 per set, good for second on the team. Defensively, Lubinski had a team-high nine blocks, including two solo blocks.
Sophomore Courtney Lengacher performed well on day two of the tournament, collecting 47 assists for a 5.88 per set average. Sophomore counterpart McKenzie Powell followed behind with 36 assists and 22 digs. Senior Samantha Hockstra led all Titans with 42 digs on Saturday and now has a total of 669 in her IUSB career.
Game one vs. Mayville State – The Comets took set one, 25-20, before the Titans took back the crucial second set with a score of 26-24. In that set, Mayville State took the early 3-1 lead before IUSB outscored its opponent 14-9 to lead by seven. The set would then go back-and-forth as the Comets regained the lead at 24-23. Kills by Berg and Powell with two Comet attacking errors, sealed the set victory.
As the scoreboard read 2-2, IUSB jumped out to a dominating 7-1 advantage in the fifth set before MSU rallied off five straight points. With the score at 12-11, in favor of IU South Bend, Lubinski registered two kills while Madison Burger delivered a service ace to help seal the first win of 2019 for the Titans. In the final set, IUSB attacked at a .444 rate while holding its opponent to a .357 percentage.
Berg led all Titans as the Muskegon Community College transfer notched the first double-double of season with 16 kills and 15 digs. Lubinski led all players with 23 kills against the Comets.
Game two vs. Clarke University – After the exciting morning match, the Titans struggled to bounce back against the Pride of Clarke University, falling 3-0 in the final game of the 2019 Holiday Inn Express Preseason Tournament. Clarke jumped out to a early 4-0 lead in set one to win the set 25-16. The Pride never looked back in sets two and three as they handed the Titans their second loss of the season.
As a team, Clarke had a .200 attacking percentage compared to just a .019 rate for the Titans. IUSB held the 7-4 advantage in blocks while seniors Ashli Drewes, Berg and Lubinski each had three block assists.