Four Crusaders finished will double-digit kills and three more had double-digit digs as the Brown and Gold swept IUPUI 30-26, 30-24, 30-25 Friday night at the Athletics-Recreation Center in a matchup of two of the Mid-Continent Conference's top four teams.

Valpo hit .317 in the second and third games combined after posting just a .078 attack percentage in game one, committing only ten errors in the final two games. The Crusaders had more kills, 51-41, more digs, 61-56, and more blocks, 10-6, on the night than the Jaguars and opened up a 1.5 game lead for third place over their instate rival.

Jessie Fox (Granger, Ind./Penn) stayed on her late tear, reaching double-digit kills for the eighth straight match with an even 10, thanks to six in game two. Fox made only one error on the night, and is hitting a team-leading .326 in conference play this season.

Fox was joined in double-digits by three teammates, starting with sophomore Allison Sears (Elkhart, Ind./Memorial) who had a team-high 12 kills to go with a match-high six blocks. Those six blocks give the sophomore 73 on the season, second on the team behind junior Nicole Schulz (Kewaskum, Wis./Kettle Moraine Lutheran) who had four blocks Friday night to go along with 10 kills of her own. Angie Porché (Lynwood, Ill./Thornton-Fractional South) was the fourth Valpo player in double-digits with 11 kills giving her an even 250 on the season, tops on the team and second in the Mid-Con.

Defensively, the Brown and Gold held IUPUI to a .122 hitting percentage thanks to more strong backline play from Brittany Marks (Elkhart, Ind./Memorial). Valpo's sophomore libero had 21 digs on the night, her third straight match with at least 20 digs and the tenth time this season she's reached that plateau. Joining her in back was freshman Val Bollenbacher (Bremen, Ind./Bremen) who had 11 digs to match a career-high and junior Heidi Hammond (Crown Point, Ind./Merrillville) who had 10.

Carol Newell led all players with 13 kills for the Jaguars (6-15, 2-3 Mid-Con) who fell to the Crusaders for the seventh straight time since 2003. Lauren Konopka chipped in eight kills, six digs and two blocks for the visitors.

Valpo (13-7, 4-2 Mid-Con) gets a break from conference play Saturday night when they square off with Chicago State at 7:00 p.m. at the ARC. Live coverage of Saturday's match is available on 95.1 FM, WVUR, and online at www.valpo.edu/athletics.

box score
season stats