Contact: Emily Zadny, Director of Athletic Communications, 563-588-7970

Box Score

Nov. 7, 2019 – The Loras College women's volleyball team handed the No. 3-seed University of Dubuque Spartans every ounce of competition it had on Thursday in the American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) Semifinal, coming back from a two-set deficit to claim the third and fourth and force its foe to a grueling fifth-set standoff that came up just one point shy of victory.

Loras (19-9, 6-2 A-R-C) came out strong in the first set with a 7-4 lead of kills from Kayla Kinney, Moira Mixan and Jackie Alberto but Dubuque (20-11, 5-3 A-R-C) tied the set on three straight points. Kelly Boge and Abby Allgeyer came away with kills which helped Loras find momentum once again but the Duhawks soon found themselves down 24-17  and the Spartans serving. Allgeyer was not going to let the Spartans take the first set easily as she hit a well-placed ball off the hands of Jessalyn Roling to hold Dubuque at set point a bit longer, but the Spartans held on to take the set 25-17.

In the second set, Alberto, Boge and Kendra Cave came up with big offensive opportunities and defensive stops, but Dubuque came out of the gates quick, taking an 18-9 lead off a mid-set five-point run and continued the streak to a 25-14 win. In the third set, Boge and Kinney each started with a kill before teaming up for a block and setting Mixan up to serve an ace, giving Loras the edge it needed. Mixan added two kills on to the score and Roling and Alberto had three commanding blocks on the five-point run to the 10-5 lead that forced a Dubuque timeout. The Spartans rebounded to take a 14-13 lead and force a Loras timeout, but it would be their last lead of the set as the Duhawks took control out of the break and secured a 25-22 win behind three kills from Allgeyer and more precision serving by Mixan.

Loras looked to bring that energy to the fourth set, but the Spartans put up a fight as both teams battled through lengthy rallies. Dubuque took a 21-18 lead and had its sights set on ending the match in four, but the Duhawks were not ready to be done playing as Allgeyer led the charge with three kills and Kinney added one while Loras' defense forced three errors on the Spartans for a seven-point barrage en route to a 25-21 win.

The energy inside the Athletic and Wellness Center was electric as the Duhawks opened the fifth set with a 3-0 lead tanks to a kill from Kinney and two errors by Dubuque. The Spartans scored three-straight to tie the score but Boge responded to help put Loras ahead 5-3. Again, Dubuque tacked on two more points to tie but surrendered two errors to put the Duhawks up, 7-5. Dubuque regained the lead but only for a moment before Alberto hit a kill to tie it. The Spartans crept up to a 13-11 lead but Allgeyer and Boge forced the opponent to make a costly error that tied the set 14-14 and force extra points. Unfortunately, the Spartans found their groove and scored two kills to end the match and advance to the tournament championship.

Allgeyer had a team-high 14 kills while Alberto tallied 13 and Boge had 11. Mixan added four service aces to her single-season total, and Alberto had five blocks. Tranel came up with 35 digs and McAtee played a key role on defense with 15 while Roling had 46 assists and 16 digs.

The Duhawks met challenges early in the season head on and finished the season as the conference runner-up and saw four student-athletes named to the All-Conference team as well as boasting the Coaching Staff of the Year. Multiple student-athletes set new single-season and career records while setting the foundation for the program in the future.