Marion, Ind. – The Marian volleyball team came away from Luckey Arena with the four-set victory (25-21, 23-25, 25-17, 25-18) over No. 11 Indiana Wesleyan. Earning their seventh Crossroads League win of the season to move to 7-1 in conference play and 15-1 overall.
The first set proved to be a back-and-forth battle, seeing the hosts get the 4-3 jump on the Knights before Avery Toole answered with a kill on the assist from Katie Hardegree. The Wildcats responded with three points in a row to take back the lead before an error ended their run. Neither team seemed to be able to pull away in the set until Marian found themselves with their largest lead at 22-16, behind big kills from Jaymison Summers and Toole to force a Wildcat timeout. After the timeout, Marian continued the momentum as they were able to hold on and take set one 25-21.
Skyler Van Note got things started for Marian with a kill from Logan Smith in the second set that eventually helped propel the visitors to a 3-2 lead. However, similar to the first set, both teams struggled to find a big lead as the two continued to trade points back and forth before Marian had a solid 20-15 lead after a block from Madison Brooks, forcing an IWU timeout. The IWU timeout shifted the momentum to the Wildcats, as they went on to win the next four points to cut the lead back to within one. Van Note ended the run with a kill, but it was not enough as the host finished set 2, 25-23.
Marian responded after losing the second set with a strong third set, downing IWU 25-17. The third set was another grinded out set as there were five ties and no lead bigger than four until late in the set when the Knights saw a 22-16 advantage after three straight kills from Brooks. The Wildcats were unable to have a response to the aggressive Marian offense and would drop the set 25-17.
Leading 2-1, the Knights did not back down as they put together another impressive set. Indiana Wesleyan was the first to get one the board, but Grace Hunter and Van Note answered back with kills and an ace to give them the 5-2 lead. Later in the set, Marian saw four points in a row after an Averi Lanman block and two Wildcat errors, increasing their lead to 17-10. The host responded with two points, but the guests continued their dominant effort in the set after a kill by Toole and block by Summers a point later that got the Knights back in rhythm. A couple errors by Marian kept IWU in the game, but the Knights came back with a kill by Hunter and two kills by Brooks to close out the set, 25-18.
Marian posted 57 kills with Van Note and Brooks each having a game-high 16. Van Note also added 18 digs for a double-double to go along with two aces, while Toole added nine kills and three blocks and Summers put up nine kills to go along with a team-high six blocks and three assists. Hardegree had herself a double-double after dishing out 20 assists and 18 digs. Gianna Feld and Smith also played well on the defensive end as each had 14 digs, with Smith adding a team-high 22 assists. Emma Lyons was another player to reach double digits in the dig category with 11.
The Knights will return to action Friday as they travel to No. 13 Taylor for a 7 PM start.
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