First-Place Ignite Not Their Sharpest but Still Find Way to Win

FISHERS, Indiana, March 19, 2026.– Even when not at their best, the Indy Ignite find ways to win and remain atop Major League Volleyball. Despite a subpar hitting performance tonight, the Ignite willed their way past visiting Columbus.

Indy won by set scores of 25-17, 25-18, 19-25, 26-24, advancing to 15-3 this season and maintaining a two-victory advantage over the surging Dallas Pulse. The Ignite now have nearly a full week off before beginning a three-match road trip with a visit to Grand Rapids on March 25.

“We struggled on offense pretty hard,” Ignite head coach Lauren Bertolacci said. “We hit 32% kill on almost .140 (efficiency). It's going to be a tough day to win on any of those moments, but as we talk about a lot, who knows? We get to a championship game or a semifinal and that might be what we're hitting and we still need to figure out how to do it.”

The Ignite figured it out on this night by relying on a host of players to come through at different junctures. Middle blocker Blake Mohler, named this week to the MLV All-Star Team, was ferocious to start the opening set, scoring four of her team’s first five points on three kills and a block. Unfortunately, Mohler went down with a leg injury later in the set and did not return. Fellow All-Stars Azhani Tealer and Mia Tuaniga picked up the slack, Tealer totaling four kills and a block and Tuaniga compiling 12 assists, eight digs, a kill and a block as the Ignite took the opener by eight points.

Following Mohler’s injury and with Lydia Martyn unavailable to play with her own injury, Indy was left with two middles for the remainder of the match. Cara Cresse replaced Mohler and led the charge in the second set with four kills and a block. Fellow middle Alexandra Botezat had two kills and two blocks as Indy took a 2-0 match advantage.

The Ignite jumped to a 9-4 lead in the third set and appeared poised for a sweep until Columbus’ net defense turned the momentum. The Fury totaled seven of their franchise-record 17 blocks in the set, and Columbus outscored Indy 8-2 to close the frame and send the match to another set.

The Fury jumped ahead 13-9 in the fourth, only to see Indy recover and go ahead 21-19. While the set would be tied four times after that, the Ignite never trailed again and terminated the set and match on Anna DeBeer’s ace that clipped the net tape and fell untouched to the court. Opposite hitter Camryn Hannah, who came off the bench in each of the final three sets, was key in the clincher, scoring four of Indy’s last eight points on three kills and a block.

“My mindset is always the same,” Hannah explained. “It's see ball, hit ball. That's pretty much it. That's my job. That's what I love to do. That's what I'm here for.”

DeBeer led the Ignite in scoring with 12 points (10 kills, two aces), outside hitter Kayla Lund had 11 (nine kills, one block, one ace) and Cresse 10 (seven kills, two blocks, one ace). Tuaniga, who finished with 37 assists and 14 digs for her fifth straight double-double and added three aces, two kills and two blocks to the attack, complimented her teammates for remaining aggressive even when the attacks didn’t fall their way.

“It felt like the passing went pretty well in the moments and, regardless of hitting errors or hitting mistakes, it felt like everyone came back strong and still demanded the ball,” she said. “That's a really big deal when it comes to being a setter and having trust in your hitters. It's really comfortable to play with this team.”

Bertolacci pointed to her team’s aggressive serving that yielded seven aces and kept Columbus on the defensive much of the evening.

“I think we kept our (service) pressure up pretty well and we were able then to have some transition plays because they were out of system,” Bertolacci said. “And we didn't really give up a lot of aces, so we kept ourselves in the game there. I think it was a good job by the girls after just a shocking injury (to Mohler), honestly. That took a little bit for us to recover from, but happy to get the win.”

The March 25 match at Grand Rapids airs live on CBS Sports Network at 7 p.m. ET. Indy doesn’t return to Fishers Event Center until April 12 when they take on Atlanta. The Fury return home on Tuesday, March 24 to host the Orlando Valkyries at 7 p.m. at Nationwide Arena.