GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Indiana University Kokomo volleyball team dropped a pair of matches to open the Aquinas/Cornerstone Invite on Friday evening. The Cougars fell in a hard fought five-set match to St. Thomas (FL) before losing a 3-0 match to the host, Aquinas College 
in the nightcap. 
 
The Cougars fall to 6-4 on the season. 
 
Match One Recap
 
The Cougars took advantage of four St. Thomas mishaps in the early going to take a 6-2 advantage over the Bobcats. IUK would use kills from Alexa Roberts and Erinn Adam as well as a Bobcat error to extend their lead to 9-3 in the opening set. 
 
St. Thomas battled back and kept things close but could never catch the Cougars as IUK cruised to a 25-18 victory to take a 1-0 match lead. 
 
The script was flipped in the second set as the Cougars found themselves playing from behind for much of the set. 
 
Trailing 15-10, IUK went on an 8-3 run that was capped off by an Adam kill, tying the match at 18. Morgan Weir got the run started with a pair of kills. 
 
The race to seven began and the Bobcats jumped ahead and never looked back, closing out the set, 25-22 to even the match at one.
 
It was déjà vu from the first set as the Cougars jumped out to an early 6-1 lead. IUK would eventually build a seven-point lead, their largest of the set, after three straight Cougar kills. One came from Audrey Strawsma and the other two from Sidney Gerig to make it 10-3. 
 
St. Thomas battled back and pulled within two of the IU Kokomo lead at 14-12. The Cougars would pull away, but the Bobcats weren't going away easy as they once again, pulled within two points of the lead at 20-18, forcing IU Kokomo head coach Heather Hayes to call a timeout. 
 
Out of the timeout, the Cougars scored four straight to make it 24-18 and would go on to win the set, 25-19 to take a 2-1 lead. 
 
The fourth set was a back-and-forth battle as neither team held a lead larger than three points. The Cougars had match point but the Bobcats scored two consecutive points to take a 25-24 advantage. An IUK attack error ended the fourth set, giving St. Thomas a 26-24 lead and tying the match at two sets apiece. 
 
It appeared as if the Cougars ran out of gas in the race to 15, falling behind 8-1. Lorelei Porter and Strawsma led a 6-1 IU Kokomo run to get the Cougars back into the match. 
 
Back-to-back kills from Porter and Gerig made it an 11-10 match in favor of the Bobcats. A St. Thomas kill followed by three IUK attack errors was the difference as the Bobcasts escaped with a 15-11 victory in the fifth set to win the match 3-2. 
 
Four Cougars finished with double figure kills led by Porter with 15. Strawsma added 13 while Gerig and Adam each chipped in with 11 kills. 
 
Kaley Lyons notched a double-double with 39 assists and 17 digs. 
 
Match Two Recap
 
The Cougars had to turn right around after the five-set thriller with St. Thomas to take on the host, Aquinas College in a rematch of the 2020 NAIA National Championship first round matchup. The Saints revenged the 3-0 loss on Friday with a 3-0 victory over the Cougars. 
 
Aquinas held the IUK attack in check, keeping the Cougars to a .048 hitting percentage. 
 
Adam finished the match with a team-high nine kills. 
 
The Cougars return to the court tomorrow as they close out the tournament with matches against Cornerstone University and Rochester University. 
 
For the latest news, updates, and information on the IU Kokomo Cougars, fans can visit IUKCougars.com. Fans can also stay up to date on the latest Cougar news by following @IUKAthletics on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.