DUBUQUE, Iowa (Duhawks.com) – Just days after earning their first five-set victory of the season at Wheaton on Friday, the Duhawks found themselves in a similar situation on Wednesday night. Unfortunately for the Duhawks, they were unable to repeat Friday night's success, falling to the Buena Vista Beavers, 3-2.
Unable to overcome an inconsistent attack and an early deficit, the Duhawks never led in the first set, falling 25-17. In the second set, roles reversed as Loras bounced back behind sophomore
Jenna Erickson's aggressive serving to hold a 4-0 lead.
The two teams played through four ties before a kill by junior
Liz Jendra gave the Duhawks a 16-12 lead and forced a Buena Vista timeout. An ace by sophomore
Miriam McKee and a pair of errors by the Beavers brought about another timeout moments late with Loras ahead, 19-12. Out of the second timeout, the Beavers comeback attempt fell short as the Duhawks took the set 25-18.
Different from the second set, Loras found themselves trailing by five, 18-13, in the third before a kill by junior
Taylor Serrano sparked a Duhawk run. Loras rattled off five straight points to knot the score at 18 before taking their first lead of the game, 23-22, on an ace by Erickson. From there the Duhawks closed out the set on kills by junior
Kara Kentner and sophomore
Danni Kennedy, 25-22, taking a 2-1 lead in the match.
Loras trailed the entire fourth set, falling 25-15, to push the match to five tied at two.
After trailing early, Loras battled back to level the score at seven but eventually ran out of steam as the Beavers took the set, 15-11, and the match, 3-2.
With the loss, the Duhawks drop to 10-13 and 0-4 in the Iowa Conference.
Match ChangerThe Beavers 10-4 run to close the fourth set proved pivotal as they stole the momentum of the Duhawks.
Key StatErrors plagued the Duhawks throughout the match but most notably in their serving game. Loras recorded just five aces while tallying eight serving errors. Their counterparts went even on the night with 10 aces and 10 errors.
Notables 