Red Wolves - IU East

Some might see it as a heartbreaking five-game loss for the Indiana University East volleyball team.

Red Wolves coach Charlie Brown viewed his team's 23-25, 25-21, 18-25, 25-14, 15-12 setback on Sept. 28 against Marian University as perfect preparation for a big conference match.

IU East (15-4) played "very well," in Brown's words, to win two of the first three games in the Richmond High School Tiernan Center. But the momentum swung when Marian (12-4) rolled through the fourth game. And a frantic Red Wolves rally in Game 5 came up just short.

IU East now has five days to use the lessons learned against Marian in preparation for an Oct. 3 match at reigning Kentucky Intercollegiate Conference champion Asbury College.

"The girls learned a valuable lesson tonight," Brown said. "We hate losses, but losses like that I think you learn the most from. If you go five sets and lose, and it makes you better for conference play, I can live with that."

Life was very good for IU East through three games. The Red Wolves claimed six of the last eight points in Game 1 to take the early lead against Marian. IU East went on an 8-1 surge to take a 10-6 lead in Game 3 and never trailed again.

The Red Wolves didn't get to enjoy their hard-earned advantage for long.

Marian's Mollie Heidenreich served 11 consecutive points to start Game 4 to turn the tide in the Knights' favor.

"We were just not communicating," said reigning KIAC Player of the Week Brandie Sanders (Indianapolis, Ind./Pike High School). "I think everybody's confidence level went down. People got quieter. We were just scrambling and trying to get one point."

Added Brown: "That was our match to take in the fourth set. I think we went a little flat for whatever reason. Because of that, (Marian) came back with a vengeance."

The Knights continued their surge in Game 5, racing to a 14-7 lead. IU East saved five match points to make things interesting before a Marian kill concluded the match.

"We couldn't get things turned around in the fourth set quick enough to get us ready for the fifth set," Brown said. "And we came out a little flat in the fifth, and we just weren't able to recover."

Red Wolves freshman setter Lauren Crump (Indianapolis, Ind./Scecina High School) distributed 35 assists and pulled into a tie for the school's single-season assist record. Crump now has 709 assists on the season, equal to the record established by Amanda Martin in 2007. Crump also served up three aces.

Freshman middle hitter Breezy Strete (Troy, Ohio/Troy High School) led IU East with 11 kills. Sanders made 23 digs. Sophomore libero Madison Qualkenbush (New Castle, Ind./New Castle High School) made 19 digs.

"We started off strong and communicated well," Sanders said. "We just need to learn to finish games."