KOKOMO, Ind. – The IU Southeast volleyball team needed five sets but was able to defeat Point Park 25-23, 17-25, 25-16, 23-25, 15-7 in the quarterfinals of the 2021 River States Conference Volleyball Championship on Friday.

Macy Graves had 17 kills, Emilee Organ had 13 and Maggie Purichia added 11 in the win for the Grenadiers.

With the first set tied at 13, a quick 5-2 run sparked by kills from Purichia, Hannah Brown and Audrey LaMaster finally gave the Grenadiers a little breathing room.

But the Pioneers rallied to tie the set at 21. A kill by Graves gave the Grenadiers a 23-22 lead but a service error tied the set once again. Back-to-back errors by Point Park sent the first to IU Southeast.

Point Park (17-11) answered back with a dominant performance for much of the second set. The Pioneers jumped out to a 15-4 advantage and did not allow the Grenadiers to get closer than six points for the remainder of the set.

IU Southeast (18-11) battled back to take an 11-4 lead in the third set. Macy Graves had three kills during that run to extend the lead. Point Park cut the lead to five at 14-9 but the Grenadiers recorded kills by Graves, Jennie Malone and Emilee Organ in three of the next four points to push the lead to 17-10.

Audrey LaMaster had back-to-back aces to force set point and a kill by Graves won the period for the Grenadiers.

With IU Southeast leading the fourth set 17-15, back-to-back attack errors and a block by Izzy Stallard and Audrey LaMaster extended the lead to 20-15. After a kill by Organ, IU Southeast led 21-16 but three attack errors by the Grenadiers and a pair of Point Park kills tied the set at 21.

Point Park scored four of the final six points to force a decisive fifth set.

The Grenadiers responded after the fourth set slipped away and took a quick 5-1 lead. After a Point Park timeout, the Pioneers cut the lead to 8-6 before one final run won the match for IU Southeast.

The Grenadiers closed the match on a 7-1 run behind the play of Graves and Purchia. Graves had two kills and Purichia had a kill and a block assist.

Though Point Park recorded 60 kills to the Grenadiers' 55, IU Southeast held a decisive edge in serve-receive. The Grenadiers had 11 aces to Point Park's two and had six total blocks to Point Park's three.

Audrey LaMaster had a career-high five aces to lead IU Southeast. She also led the Grenadiers with four block assists. Cate Murphy had 22 assists while Hannah Brown had five kills and 14 assists. Lexie Fisher led IU Southeast with 20 digs.

The Grenadiers will face No. 1 overall seed and host IU Kokomo Saturday at 10 a.m. in the first semifinal of the day.