KIRKSVILLE, Mo.—With the season almost half over, the Truman volleyball team finally got to play their first home match of the season Friday night as they took on Indianapolis. Indy came in with a two match winning streak and undefeated in GLVC play, but both were ended by the Bulldogs as they took the battle of canines 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-21).
The first set was tight early on, with the teams going back and forth within a point of each other until they were knotted at seven. Truman went on a 3-0 run, which included kills from Ainsley Heise and Jocelynn Livingston to build a 10-7 lead and they would not trail again the rest of the set. Indy got close at 15-13, but a 6-0 run by the Bulldogs put the set out of reach. Ellie Kaat recorded three kills in a row during the run. Still, Indy would not go down easy at they rallied to within three at 23-20. After a Truman timeout the Bulldogs got two of three points to finish the set 25-21, capped off by a Heise kill.
Indy got off to a quick start in the second set as they took a 3-1 lead, but Truman rallied back to take a 4-3 lead and much like the first set the teams seesawed back and forth. Indy established a 12-9 lead but another 3-0 run from Truman knotted it up again. Truman finally took the lead at 17-16 on another kill from Heise and would hold on to finish the set 25-22 on a kill from Kaat.
Elise Hardesty began the third set with a kill, one of four on the night for the setter. Truman built a 4-1 lead early, but finally at nine the teams would be knotted up. From being tied at 15, TSU built a five point lead on a 6-1 run. But once again Indy rallied to get within two at 23-21. From there Livingston and Heise got back to back kills to take the set 25-21 and match 3-0.
Kaat led the team in kills with 15, and Livingston hit .600 as nine of her 15 attacks were successful. Hardesty totaled 35 assists as well as four kills. As a team Truman hit .270, which set a new season high.
The team will be back in action tomorrow afternoon against Bellarmine at 2 p.m. and conclude their three game homestand against Quincy on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
