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

Box Score vs. St. Mary's
Box Score vs. Lake Forest

LAKE FOREST, Ill. (Aug. 31, 2019) – The Loras College women's volleyball team closed out its opening weekend with a 3-0 win against St. Mary's College and a 3-1 win against Lake Forest College on Saturday on Day 2 of the Forester Invitational.

Against St. Mary's, Loras quickly doubled up the Belles with an 8-4 lead off of kills from Kayla Kinney, Kelly Boge and Moira Mixan. Abby Allgeyer came up with a kill off the hands of Jessalyn Roling followed by another kill from Jackie Alberto before the pair teamed up for a block at the net and extended Loras' lead 12-7. An ace from Allgeyer later in the set gave Loras its largest lead, topping the Belles 19-10, but St. Mary's made a late-set comeback to pull within three and force the Duhawks to take a timeout, although it was not enough as Lyndsi Wilgenbusch hit the set-winning kill to give the Duhawks a 25-21 win.

The second set started out as a tight contest until a kill and block from Alberto and ace from Roling sparked a four-point streak to give Loras a 13-10 lead. Boge hit three kills and Allgeyer added two to put Loras up 23-18 but St. Mary's scored four straight points and forced Loras to take a timeout with set point approaching. A kill from Wilgenbusch set Loras up for set point before St. Mary's tacked on one more, but it was Wilgenbusch again who would win the set for the Duhawks, hitting a kill off the hands of Roling and putting Loras up, 2-0.

The Belles took an early 3-0 lead but faltered on the next point to put Loras on the board and set Boge up for a kill and Mixan for a service ace. Both teams continued to trade points until a service error by St. Mary's led to back-to-back aces for Krystal Tranel and a kill from Wilgenbusch. Tranel added her third ace of the set on the next point before the Belles called a timeout. Leading 16-11, the Duhawks' hard-hitting offense of Kinney, Alberto, and Wilgenbusch were able to keep the Belles at bay, win the third set, and end the match, 25-19.

Kinney and Alberto both had ten kills in the opening match and Alberto added three blocks for the defense. Tranel had a team-high three service aces and came up with 14 digs.
In the second match of the day, the Duhawks dropped the first set after falling behind early and struggled to recover. Alberto and Kendra Cave came up with a much-needed block followed by an ace from Kinney and kill from Wilgenbusch as a part of a five-point run to cut Lake Forest's lead, 21-18, but it was too little too late.

Both teams started neck and neck with each other in the second set, but the Duhawks found momentum following kills from Boge and Kinney to lead 8-5. The Foresters tied the set at 11-11 but the Duhawks regained control with a five-point scoring run to lead 16-11 and continued the pattern throughout the set thanks to kills from Kinney, Boge and Wilgenbusch, as well as blocks from Roling and Alberto, to win the second set 25-18.

After trailing 3-0 in the opening points of the third set, the Duhawks took a 6-5 lead off kills from Alberto, Boge and Kinney. The Foresters took back the lead, 11-8, but a kill from Roling sparked a five-point run to lead 13-11 and it was the last time Lake Forest would have the advantage as the Duhawks won the third set, 25-17 with a kill from Alberto.

Loras wanted to end the match in four and took a 16-6 lead thanks to well-placed serves by Roling, Kinney and Cave and kills from Boge and Mixan. The Duhawks' offensive efforts paid off as the Foresters could not recover and Loras won the match with a 25-11 win in the fourth.

Kinney led the team with 13 kills and three aces while Tranel added three aces of her own and Roling had team-highs in blocks (3), assists (36), and digs (17.) Loras had seven blocks to the Foresters' two and had a match-best .357 hitting percentage in the fourth set.

Loras (4-0) travels to the University of Wisconsin-Platteville on Tuesday, Sept. 3 at 7 p.m. Links to live in-match statistics can be found HERE.