River States Conference

IU East Volleyball Out of NAIA Tournament

11/21/2010 12:00:00 AM

PORTSMOUTH, Ohio - None of the Red Wolves saw this coming.

The pre-match practices went well. The pre-match warmup went fine. The match itself started started on an encouraging note.

Then, as Indiana University East volleyball coach Charlie Brown put it, the wheels came off.

The Red Wolves' volleyball season ended Nov. 20 with a 25-20, 25-17, 25-18 win loss at Shawnee State University in an NAIA National Championship Opening Round match.

IU East finished 39-4. Shawnee State (35-9) advances to the NAIA National Championship final site in Sioux City, Iowa.

The Red Wolves beat the Bears in four games on Oct. 15 during the University of St. Francis/Asics Munciana Invitational on Yorktown, Ind., but couldn't repeat that result with a spot in the NAIA's final 24 on the line.

"It's disappointing to be 39-4 and feel as bad as I do right now," Brown said.

"I don't know how we can come in so scared against a team we already beat. We said ball control and serve receive would make the difference, and they out-ball controlled and out-serve received us. We should have been in the fight of our life, and we didn't bring our 'A' game."

Shawnee State served up 10 aces, including four from Kirsti Yates. IU East had not been aced more than eight times all season.

The Bears limited the Red Wolves to a season-worst .143 hitting percentage. The Red Wolves had come into the match hitting at a .327 clip, the best mark in the NAIA.

IU East held leads of 19-15 and 20-18 in the opening set before those wheels fell off.

The Bears ran off the last seven points of the first set as serves by Jami Turrill and attacks from Heather Koehler proved an effective combination.

IU East then had a 6-3 lead in the second game before Yates served up 11 consecutive points, including all four of her aces in a row.

Turrill, the Mid-South Conference Player of the Year, finished with 13 kills.

Koehler added 12.

Junior outside hitter Courtney Flory (New Paris, Ohio/National Trail High School) led IU East with eight kills.

The Bears out-hit, out-aced, out-blocked and out-dug the Red Wolves.

"They did the same thing all three sets," Brown said. "We made adjustment after adjustment, but when the wheels fell off, we took a hard crash."

IU East's season ended in the NAIA National Championship Opening Round for the second consecutive season.

Taylor eliminated the Red Wolves in the Opening Round in 2009.