Roos trip, fall on Jaguar turf as season concludes

By: Elyssa Brogdon

Posted: 11/12/07

The UMKC Kangaroos ended their season with a 3-1 loss at the hands of the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Jaguars Saturday night in Indianapolis.

It was the ninth straight defeat for a battle-worn volleyball squad whose health had depleted considerably since what turned out to be its last victory of the season on Oct. 13 against Oakland University.

The injury report started with senior Kylee Stephenson, continued with nagging injuries and illnesses to several others on the squad. The final cascading blow seemed to come when junior Liz Pollock injured her anterior cruciate ligament and was sidelined for the remainder of the season nearly three weeks ago.

In the first game of the final match of 2007, IUPUI led 6-2 after a four-point run. The Jaguars would hold the lead the rest of the game.

IUPUI hit another run - this time it was six points that gave them a commanding 16-7 lead.

The Roos played hard but could not overcome the Jaguars' momentous play.

The game ended with a Jaguars kill, 30-17.

The next game began with the Kangaroos registering four points before IUPUI managed to get on the board. UMKC took the lead and held it the entire game.

Senior Sarah Johnson, who had a career high 22 kills at the IUPUI match, brought the two squads to game-point hammering the ball to the floor 29-23, advantage to the Kangaroos.

A Roo error on the next play delayed victory, but sophomore Kelly Gettinger's kill ended the game 30-24 moments later. This would be the only game won by UMKC that evening.

Tie after tie in game three continued until the Jags clawed their way up the scoreboard to take a decisive 19-9 lead. The Kangaroos would get no closer in the third game.

The two teams traded scores, neither hitting any significant runs up to the end.

IUPUI won the game 30-18.

In what would be the final game of the match as well as Roos' season, the two squads found themselves tied 12-12 nearing the mid-point of the match. But that would not last much longer.

The Jaguars capitalized on errors by UMKC and stellar play of their own to charge out to a 26-16 lead.

The end for the Kangaroos came shortly after that, with IUPUI closing out the game and match 30-20.

ebrogdon@unews.com