Bowling Green, KY - The UPIKE women's volleyball team fell to the IU-Southeast Grenadiers Friday afternoon in game one of the Vette City Classic 3-1. In game two they fell to Missouri Valley College 3-0. This drops the Bears to 0-2 to begin their 2021 campaign.

UPIKE was led by senior Hunter Clewis in game one, who had a double-double in the match with a team-high 17 kills and team-high 18 digs. The 17 kills are a career-high for Clewis. In game two, Yeryvel Catala had a team-high six kills.

Match One: IU-Southeast defeats Pikeville 3-1 (25-20, 25-15, 21-25, 25-19)
After falling behind 10-5 early on in set one, the Bears cut the lead to three at 13-10 after an Erin Ende kill. The Grenadiers then used a strong 10-5 run to take a 23-15 lead. UPIKE tried to make a comeback, as they had a 5-0 run to push the set to 23-20 before the Grenadiers closed it out at 25-20.

The Grenadiers got out to a 12-4 lead early on in set two and never looked back. UPIKE cut the lead down to 14-9 but couldn't get any closer as IU-Southeast cruised to a 25-15 set win to take a 2-0 match lead.

Set three was back and forth before the Bears took advantage of a few errors and had a pair of kills to make it 17-13. The Grenadiers would get no closer than three throughout the remainder of the set as the Bears claimed the win 25-21. Hunter Clewis had a pair of kills along with one down the stretch from Megan Frazier to help put it away for the Bears.

IU-Southeast held a 16-13 lead midway through the set before using a 5-1 run to put the Bears in a 21-14 hole. A 3-0 run from UPIKE was met with a 3-0 run by the Grenadiers as they claimed the set 25-19 and the match 3-1.

Match Two: Missouri Valley College defeats Pikeville (25-21, 25-17, 25-18)
The Bears got out to an 8-6 lead in set one before the Vikings used an 8-1 run to take a 14-9 lead. The Vikings led 16-11 before four Hunter Clewis aces fueled a 7-0 UPIKE run to make it 18-16. The Vikings then answered with a 5-0 run to go up 21-18 before holding off the Bears 25-21 to take a 1-0 match lead.

Missouri Valley got out to a 13-10 lead in set two before extending their lead with a 6-1 push to make it 19-11. The Bears got within five but couldn't complete the comeback as they fell 25-17 and dropped into a 2-0 hole in the match.

After UPIKE took a 6-5 lead in set three, the Vikings answered with a 9-1 flurry to make it 14-7. UPIKE couldn't muster a comeback as they fell 25-18 to lose the match 3-0.

What's Up Next
After dropping a pair of games, the Bears will look to rebound tomorrow on the final day of the Vette City Classic. They take on Point University at 10:00 a.m. before taking on Loyola University New Orleans at 3:00 p.m.