Indianapolis — The Marian University volleyball team made its home debut in its 19th match of the season on Saturday afternoon, suffering its first loss in Crossroads League play to Saint Francis in five sets.
TEAM STATISTICS
- Both teams recorded 62 kills
- USF had 12 aces to eight for Marian
- The Cougars led the way in blocks, 12-6
- MU held a slim edge in digs, 71-69
- Saint Francis hit .272, while the Knights hit .239
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
- Khori Dryden hit .333 with 17 kills in the first home match of her senior season
- Chloe Cook matched her with 17 kills of her own
- Ava Tindall hit .450 with 10 kills
- Mya Cunningham recorded a team-best 26 assists, eclipsing 1,000 career assists on the day
- Autumn Wohler logged five aces with 13 digs
- Evie Dart had a team-best five blocks
- Addie Phillips tallied a team-high 14 digs in an expanded role
HOW IT HAPPENED
FIRST SET
- Marian jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the opening set, forcing an early Saint Francis timeout
- The Knights pushed the advantage to 14-7 following a Dart kill
- A string of seven straight USF points forced an MU timeout with the frame tied at 15
- Marian tallied the final five points of the set; Wohler's ace wrapped up the opening frame
SECOND SET
- Another Wohler ace put the Knights ahead 16-11 to force another USF timeout
- The Cougars tied the set at 21 off of Karlee Buschur's kill
- An attack error moved MU to a 2-0 set lead
THIRD SET
- A Danielle Schade kill and an attack error moved the Knights ahead to 13-8
- A seven-point Cougar run flipped the lead in their favor, 21-16
- USF closed the set out on a Knights' attack error
FOURTH SET
- The teams were tied at 10 before Marian rattled off five straight off of another Wohler ace
- USF answered with four straight to cut their deficit to a single point, 16-15
- Marian led 21-19, but USF took four straight, eventually closing out the fourth and forcing a decisive fifth
FIFTH SET
- Saint Francis jumped out to leads of 5-1 and 10-4 in the fifth
- A Dart kill punctuated a three-point Marian run that injected life in the arena
- The Knights would add four more consecutive points to take an 11-10 lead
- Down 13-12, Marian took back-to-back points to serve with a match point
- A Dart kill fought off a match point from USF after the Cougars took back-to-back points
- USF finished off the comeback with two Kayla Gumbel kills to earn the upset win
UP NEXT
- Marian is back in action at home on Wednesday versus Grace at 7 p.m., streamed live on the ISC Sports Network
