The University of Southern Indiana volleyball team split the final day of the Warrior Invitational Saturday, defeating Ursuline College in four sets (25-20, 25-19, 17-25) before falling to the host Wayne State University in three (22-25, 20-25, 18-25).
The Screaming Eagles (3-4) were led on the attack by freshman right side hitter Katherine Koch (Belleville, Illinois) with 17 kills on a .371 hitting percentage between the two matches, including her third double-digit performance in her first seven collegiate appearances.
Junior setter Casey Cepicky (St. Louis, Missouri) and freshman setter Kelsie Vanitvelt (Grand Blanc, Michigan) each posted a double-double against Ursuline, their 21st and first career double-doubles, respectively. Cepicky ended the day with 52 assists and 17 digs. Vanitvelt posted four service aces for the day on top of her double-double in the morning match.
USI Volleyball returns to Evansville next weekend to open the USI Invitational against Ohio Dominican University Thursday night.
Game 1: USI 3, Ursuline 1
The Eagles snagged the first set, 25-20, from Ursuline on the back of two five-plus point stretches. USI grabbed the lead for good with a 6-0 run to a 10-7 advantage, then shut the door on the Arrows with a 5-0 run to 21-14.
Senior middle blocker Amanda Jung (Belleville, Illinois) collected all five of her blocks for the match in the first frame, four of which came in the 6-0 run early in the set.
The second frame closed, 25-19, in favor of USI. The two squads traded six-plus point runs in this set, with the Eagles sealing the set with an 8-1 run to a 21-17 cushion.
Four Eagles each tallied three kills in the second frame: Koch, Coleman, senior outside hitter Lindsey Stose (Elkhart, Indiana) and freshman outside hitter Jordan Martin (Huntertown, Indiana).
USI took the fourth set, 25-20, to seal the victory after using a 7-0 run to jump out to a 19-12 advantage. Koch notched her third double-digit performance in kills for the season on the first point of the mid-set run.
Senior libero Mikaila Humphrey (Floyd Knobs, Indiana) corralled 18 digs against Ursuline, her most in a single match since posting her career-high 21 at the end of the 2016 season.
Game 2: Wayne State 3, USI 0
The Eagles fell behind 8-2 early on in the opening set, battled back to within one point, 22-23, before ceding the frame to the Warriors, 25-22.
Koch paced the first set on the attack with four kills, followed by Anderson and Coleman with three each. Koch finished the match with seven kills, tied for second-most for USI with Stose.
USI struck first in the second set, opening up a 10-3 lead early on. Wayne State recovered with a 9-1 run to close the frame, 25-20, in favor of the Warriors.
Stose tallied five kills to lead the attack in the second. Sophomore middle hitter Taylor Litteken (Foristell, Missouri) added three kills and a pair of blocks.
The Eagles ceded the match dropping the third set, 25-18. The Warriors took the lead at 5-4 and never looked back. Anderson surged for five of her USI-leading nine kills in the final frame.
Cepicky accumulated 31 assists and seven digs in the match. Three other Eagles posted at least seven digs: Stose (8), Humphrey (7) and Vanitvelt (7).
