Saturday turned out to be a rough night for the Jackrabbit volleyball team, as they were swept in three straight matches to Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne by scores of 25-16, 28-26 and 25-19.

The Jacks could not stop the defending Summit League tournament champions’ offensive attack, as the Mastodons pounded 56 kills against the home team’s defense.

“We knew this was going to be a tough battle. IPFW has a great tradition and to come out and have a slow start is tough,” head coach Nanabah Allison-Brewer said.

Match one began with the Jacks going up 2-1, SDSU’s only lead of the game. After falling behind early, the Jacks could not string together much. They also had to deal with IPFW’s Mayara Schlindwein, a senior who landed six kills in the first match alone and had 17 kills overall.

One of the silver linings of the match was sophomore and Parkston native Kelli Fiegen, who nailed four out of five kills in the first match. The Jacks couldn’t seem to get their communication down, and with the offensive attack IPFW provided, it was hard to keep anything going. IPFW cruised to a 25-16 game victory, getting down 21 kills in 34 attempts with only three errors.

The second match gave the fans at Frost Arena a bit of excitement. The match went into extra points and saw 14 tie scores and eight lead changes. After two straight IPFW kills to start the game, the Jacks kept things close most of the match.

Fiegen continued to pound the ball in the second match, getting down six of seven kills to lead the Jacks. She ended the night with a .529 attack percentage and only one error.

The Jacks lead by as much as three late into the third match, but couldn’t put IPFW away. With the score at 23-20, Ellyce Youngren laced a potential kill that sailed out of bounds. Then the Jacks had a block attempt go off the net, and an IPFW tipped hit landed in bounds to tie the match at 23-23.

After an IPFW kill sailed wide, they found a hole in the back corner of the Jacks defense and tied the match at 24-24. The two teams exchanged kills, and it was time for some extra volleyball.

IPFW landed a hit to go up 26-25, but another kill slammed down by Fiegen tied things back up. A set-hit and a kill would finish off the Jacks in the second match as they fell by a score of 28-26, but they went down swinging.

“We’re glad about our bounce-back in set two. That was tough because we fell short with opportunities to take that set and maybe turn the match into a different situation,” head coach Allison-Brewer said.

The Jacks were looking to build on the successes and hard play of the second set, but they trailed IPFW by three or four points most of the set. SDSU tried to rally in the last half of the set, as they cut the IPFW lead to two points off of a Youngren hit that found a hole. IPFW would close out the Jacks, scoring four points to SDSU’s one point to win the game 25-19, and the match 3-0.

“We’ve got to make sure we do the little things and when you don’t defend at home like we did, we’ve got to go out and pick up a conference win on the road,” head coach Allison-Brewer said.

#1.1669067:2109932935.jpg:VB-5-Color-Ryan-Robinson.jpg:Kelly Herrmann, middle blocker, attempts to retrieve a kill during SDSU?s loss to IPFW on Oct. 3.:Collegian Photo by Ryan Robinson