DUBUQUE, Iowa (Duhawks.com) – Through all the highs and lows the season provided the opportunity to play one more day came down to Wednesday's match against University of Dubuque. With their season's fate in their hands, the Duhawks took advantage taking the match 3-1 (25-20, 25-13, 19-25, 25-18).

Loras trailed 1-0 in the opening set before taking a 16-14 lead. Back-to-back kills by junior Taylor Serrano doubled the Duhawks lead, bringing about a Spartan timeout. Out of the break, Loras forced Dubuque into a pair of errors, pushing their led to 21-14. The Duhawks held off a late comeback by the Spartans to take the set 25-20 on a kill by sophomore Tara Blake.

In the second set, the Duhawks hit a match-best .394 while holding the Spartans to a mere .050. After taking an early 9-3 lead the Duhawks cruised to a 25-13 set win, closing the set on a 9-2 run.

Leading the match 2-0, with an Iowa Conference tournament berth within reach, Loras jumped out to a 7-4 lead on a kill by junior Liz Jendra. Unfortunately, the lead was short-lived as a 10-2 run by the Spartans put the Duhawks behind, 14-9. On the ensuing serve, a clean pass from senior Courtney Boyd allowed junior Kara Kentner to set Blake who split the block for the kill. Moments later an ace by Blake brought the Duhawks within one, 16-15, and forced a timeout by the Spartans. After the pause in play, Dubuque closed the set on a 9-4 run, ultimately winning the set 25-19.

Behind solid serving by sophomore Jenna Erickson, the Duhawks erased an early Spartan lead to knot the match at three. From there, the teams traded a series of runs back and forth before knotting the set at eight. A hustle play by Kentner allowed Kennedy to set Blake for a kill, giving Loras the 9-8 edge.

The Duhawks extended their lead to three a few plays later when Kentner set sophomore Therese Schultz for the kill. With momentum building on the side of the Duhawks, Dubuque called a timeout. The timeout did little to cut the momentum of the Duhawks, as they pushed their lead to 23-17 after a kill by Serrano before taking the set 25-18 on an ace by Erickson.

With the win the Duhawks finish the regular season 13-18 overall and 2-5 in the Iowa Conference.

Match Changer
Trailing 8-6 in the fourth set, the Duhawks rattled off three straight points to take a 10-8 lead and never looked back, leading the rest of the way.

Key Stat
The Duhawks outhit the Spartans .231 to .113 for the match.

Notables

• With the win, Loras clinches the fifth seed in the Iowa Conference tournament.
• For the seventh straight match, freshman Haley Bergan recorded at least 20 digs. She tallied a team-high 22 in the win over the Spartans.
• Junior Liz Jendra hit over .300 for the fifth time this season, hitting .318 with 10 kills.
• In her final game in the Athletic & Wellness Center, senior Courtney Boyd tallied five digs.
• Wednesday's match marked the first time the Duhawks have finished in four sets since September 27 when they took down Dominican University 3-1 in the NACC-IIAC Crossover Challenge.

Quotable
Head Coach Jenna Ness
"We need to go in with confidence. When we played Central we went up 2-0 and then dropped sets three and four before finishing in five. We have to go in with confidence right away, put the pressure on them, and never let up."

Next Up
The Duhawks travel to Pella, Iowa on Tuesday to take on the Central College Dutch in the first round of the Iowa Conference tournament.