The IU Southeast volleyball team stretched their winning streak to three with a decisive 3-1 victory on Oct. 30 over the Oakland City Mighty Oaks, 22-25, 25-14, 26-24, 25-17.

“That’s the best we’ve played at home,” IUS head coach Carrie Lilly said. “That was a good one for the home crowd to see.”

The Grenadiers started fast in the first game, taking an early 4-0 lead with good passing and serve placement.     Oakland City battled back, however, and rallied to tie the game at 22 and scored six unanswered points to win the game, 25-22.

IU Southeast didn’t let the tough first game loss carry over to their play in the second game. The Grenadiers jumped out to a 13-5 lead and used improved blocking and a good service game to take the second game 25-14 and even the match at one game each.

“We worked on blocking a lot,” Lilly said. “They did an excellent job of executing that tonight.”

The third game was much tighter and featured five ties and several heated rallies. IU Southeast fell behind by as many as four, but tied the game at 24 on a big kill by junior middle hitter, Vanessa Stauble, who led the Grenadiers with 12 kills and two blocks. Two plays later, Stauble finished the game with another thunderous spike to give the Grenadiers a 26-24 win.

“I think those were probably my two best hits of the season,” Stauble said.

Oakland City pressured the Grenadiers early in the fourth game with well-placed serves, but IU Southeast turned back the Mighty Oaks attack and built an 18-11 lead. Oakland City had several costly errors in the fourth and finished with 27 compared to only 16 for the Grenadiers.

Oakland City rallied to within three, but junior right side hitter, Lindsey Williams, stopped the comeback with a kill to give IU Southeast a 21-17 lead they would never relinquish on the way to a 25-17 win to take the match 3-1. Williams finished with 11 kills and 5 digs to go along with outside hitter Kara Draper’s 10 kills and five digs.

Lilly said the win was good for the Grenadiers’ confidence level as they head into post-season tournament play.

“We prepared well for the game,” Lilly said. “They were mentally intense. They let the other team make the errors.

Stauble said the team has played their best over the past couple weeks of the season.

“We’ve finally come together as a team,” Stauble said.

By MATTHEW MILLER
Staff Writer
mlm5@ius.edu