The IUS volleyball team faced off against the Boyce College Bulldogs on Thursday, Oct. 20.

The Grenadiers were able to take the match 3-0 and improve their record to 20-8 for the season.

Senior and team captain Katie Fischer led the Grenadiers with 10 kills while freshman Lindsey Howell and senior Mary Dye each had six. Senior Hannah Barker also led the Grenadiers with 23 assists. The team was able to produce six total blocks.

This would be the first time the IUS volleyball team has reached 20 wins for the first time since 2011.

The Grenadiers are now sitting at 20-8 for the regular season and 9-1 in conference. They are currently in second place for the conference standings.

“I think we played well tonight.” Fischer said. “Some players got to try out new positions, some players got to rest which is important since we have a big weekend coming up.”

Head coach Eric Brian said that this match was a good time to try out some different strategies that the team had been working on.

“We took the opportunity to rest some players tonight.” Brian said. “We have a lot of injuries right now and it was good to be able to get some other players some playing time while we let some of our starters tonight.”

As the season is coming to a quick close, coach Brian said that the Grenadiers are facing some of their toughest opponents yet.

“We have a really tough match against Point Park University coming up.” Brian said. “They are sitting in first place in the conference so in order to fight for the number one spot, we have to beat them.”

Katie Fischer led the teams in kills tonight and went on to say that the team is looking forward to closing out this season strong.

“I am ready for this weekend.” Fischer said. “It is going to be a challenging weekend to say the least. We need the win to stay ahead in the conference.”

Some of the players on the team were able to try out some new positions that they do not normally play.

Sophomore Monica Loftus was subbed in to play libero in the second set for the Grenadiers. Lindsey Howell went on to have eight assists as she stepped into the setter position in the third set.

The Grenadiers are heading to Carlow University on Saturday, Oct. 22. They will be playing against Carlow as well as Point Park. The Grenadiers could end up finding themselves in first place of the conference standings with wins on Saturday.