SUU campus briefs

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL: Southern Utah University's women's volleyball team moved into a tie for first place in the Summit League with a 26-24, 23-25, 25-20, 25-21 victory at IUPUI on Friday night at Indianapolis.

The T-Birds moved to 8-2 in league play this season and into a three-way tie for first with North Dakota State and IPFW.

Despite dropping the first point of the match, SUU quickly answered with back-to-back kills by Analaine Palaez and Brittney Clark to take the lead, 2-1. The advantage held through most of the frame as Southern Utah looked primed to finish out the set with a 23-19 lead. However, IUPUI put together a five-point rally to bring the set to game point with a 24-23 advantage.

SUU head coach Debby Baker made a late sub in Kylie Schofield, sending in the freshman because of a lack of timeouts. The move paid off as the Thunderbirds returned their focus and collected a pair of kills by fellow freshman Hailey Moore and capitalized on an IUPUI error to take the set 26-24 on a final three-point run.

The opposite played out in the second set as Southern Utah picked up the opening point on a Pelaez kill, but IUPUI eventually took the lead 3-2 and held on throughout the stanza. The Thunderbirds fought off three game points at 24-21, 24-22 and 24-23, but couldn't quite tie the game as the Jaguars' Shari Bernhardt finished the set, 25-23, with a closing kill.

Southern Utah used a pair of kills by Pelaez to take a 2-0 lead in the third set, but the attack stalled when SUU hit nine points. IUPUI used a 5-1 run in the middle of the set to take a 15-10 advantage, leading to a Southern Utah timeout. The break did wonders for the team, as the Thunderbirds came out and scored the next five points on a pair of mistakes by IUPUI, a service ace by Pelaez and a pair of kills by Jazmine Ma'afala and Schofield, tying the game at 15-15.

The frame was tied again at 18-18, but a 7-2 run by the Thunderbirds wrapped up the set 25-20. Pelaez and Moore recorded kills for Southern Utah during the stretch as SUU also made the most of three IUPUI errors.

SUU used several three- and four-point runs in the final set to take marginal leads before IUPUI battled back to tie the stanza late at 17-17. A final three-point run by Southern Utah stretched the advantage to 20-17 and the T-Birds would never look back as a Cashaana Renfro kill punctuated the match 25-21.