KOKOMO, Ind. - The IU Kokomo volleyball team closed out their opening weekend of the season by splitting a pair of matches against two teams receiving votes in the NAIA Top 25 Coaches' Preseason Poll.

The Cougars fell to Bethel (IN) in three sets before taking down Campbellsville in four.

Match One

The Cougars struggled from the jump against undefeated Bethel, hitting .043 in their first match of Day 2 of the 2023 IU Kokomo Invitational. After winning the opening two points, the Pilots won four-straight to take a 4-2 lead. The Pilots led 11-8 and would extend the lead to 18-9 to take a grip on the opening set, winning it 25-17.

Bethel carried the momentum over to the second set, where they jumped out to a 7-1 lead. IU Kokomo managed to get within four on several occasions, but Bethel played well down the stretch to take the second set 25-18.

The third set was tight early on, but the Pilots distanced themselves and would win the set 25-12 to hand the Cougars their first loss of the season.

Audrey Strawsma led IUK with nine kills, while Lexi Broyles had seven and Cali Cummings added five. Alyvia Smith led the Cougs with 13 digs, going along with three assists.

Kaley Lyons had a team-high 13 assists along with seven digs. Allison Richman tallied 12 assists. 

Match Two

As they did in the first match of the day, IU Kokomo struggled to find a rhythm early. The Tigers of Campbellsville took an early 10-4 lead to force an IUK timeout. Campbellsville would maintain a solid lead throughout the set to take a 1-0 lead.

Unlike match one, the Cougars turned it around in a big way after dropping the opening set. The Tigers led 5-2 early in set two, but the Cougars responded with a 7-0 run to take a 9-5 lead and force a CU timeout. Leading 17-10, IUK won five-straight points to extend the lead to 12, eventually going on to win set two 25-17.

Despite two handily-won sets to open the match, the final two would be tightly-contested. Campbellsville led 11-5 in set three, but IU Kokomo responded to take a 15-14 lead. With the set tied at 22, freshmen Mia Niekamp and Cali Cummings recorded kills on consecutive points to give the Cougs a pair of match points. IUK would convert on the second match point with a Strawsma kill to take a 2-1 lead in the match.

The fourth set was back-and-forth throughout, as neither team led by more than two points until IU Kokomo took a 17-14 lead. CU battled back to tie the match at 18 and force a Heather Hayes timeout, but the Cougars answered immediately with a 3-0 mini-run to force a Tiger timeout. 

IU Kokomo extended the lead to four at 23-19, but Campbellsville won four of the next five points to pull within one at 24-23. On their third match point, sophomore Lexi Broyles came up with a kill to clinch a 25-23 fourth-set win and 3-1 match win for IUK over Campbellsville.

A pair of freshmen led IUK in kills in the win, as Niekamp had 13 and Cummings added 11 kills and five total blocks. Broyles was the third Coug to reach double-digit kills with 10, paired with a team-high six total blocks.

Lyons had 23 assists and 12 digs, while Smith tallied 18 digs, six assists, and a service ace. Richman contributed 15 assists.

The Cougars are set to return to action next Friday and Saturday as they will travel to Nebraska to compete in Bellevue University's GoSarpy.com Labor Day Classic.

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.