Contact: Nathan Cameron, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications, 563-588-7243

Mar. 10, 2021 - The No. 21 Loras College women's volleyball (5-1, 4-1 A-R-C) team took on the No. 11 Cornell College Rams (4-1, 0-0 MWC) in a non-conference matchup at Lillis Court Wednesday night. After a dominant first two sets from the Duhawks, the Rams came back to win sets three and four to force the match into a fifth set to decide a winner where the Duhawks claimed a victory over the No. 11 nationally ranked team (29-27, 25-19, 22-25, 25-27, 15-8). 

Cornell struck first in set number one on a kill from Ilah Perez-Johnson that was immediately answered by Moira Mixan who put one home for the Duhawks. Soon thereafter Cornell took a five point lead at 8-3 but an eight point Duhawk scoring run ensued, highlighted by a kill from Mixan and three kills from sophomore outside hitter Jade Casper to go up 11-8. After the two teams shared scoring, the score saw itself tied eight more times as the Rams kept the Duhawks close, but a Casper pushed the Duhawks forward with a kill to go up by one for the set point where a Cornell attacking error shut the door on the set with a 29-27 final in favor of Loras. 

The second set saw Cornell take three early points away from the Duhawks but an error from Perez-Johnson and a service ace from Mixan brought the Duhawks within one at 3-2. The Rams pulled away by a four point differential near the midway point of the set but the Duhawks added four straight with Jackie Alberto and Lyndsi Wilgenbusch posting kills in the run joined by two errors from Cornell. Rory Light put the Rams up later in the set at 14-13 but three straight Duhawk kills from Alberto, Mixan and Casper followed by an error from Cornell put Loras up 17-14. As the Rams tried to claw their way back, the Duhawks fought them off with a pair of kills from Casper and Wilgenbusch that put Loras up 21-16 near the end of the set. Two straight kills from Alberto and Mixan gave the Duhawks their second set victory of the night with a 25-19 win over the Rams. 

It was the Rams again in the third set who put points on the board first but the Duhawks quickly flexed back by putting up five straight of their own with back-to-back kills from Alberto that was followed by a Perez-Johnson error for Cornell. Wilgenbusch added a kill to the barrage that was continued by Mixan, who nailed a perfect serve for an ace to bring the score to 5-2 early. The score saw itself tied at 5-5 after the Rams put up three in a row but two kills from Wilgenbusch and Casper followed by two bad sets from Danielle Amonica gave the Duhawks the lead once more at 9-5. Loras owned the middle part of the set, at one point going up 16-8 on the Rams, but Cornell slowly began to chip away at the Duhawks and come back within two at 18-16. The Duhawks put two more on the board to go up by four at 20-16, but Cornell outscored Loras 5-1 to tie the set up late at 21-21. After adding two more, the Rams held a 23-21 lead that was cut to one after an Allison Eickenberry error but the Duhawks effort came up short as the Rams finished out the set with back to back points to take the set 25-22. 

 After trading blows early in the first set the Duhawks quickly found themselves with a 7-3 lead that increased to a 10-5 lead after a Casper kill, a Sara Hoskins service ace and an attacking error from Perez-Johnson pushed the Duhawks forward. Cornell immediately responded by putting six straight points on the board but Mixan brought the score back even at 11-11 with a kill assisted from Hoskins. Down by two later in the set the Duhawks threw six points up on the scoreboard to go ahead by four at 18-14. As was the story in the set prior, Cornell slowly crawled back to pull the score back to a tie at 21-21 after going on a four point scoring run but it was immediately answered by Casper and Mixan who scored a pair of kills to put the Duhawks back in the lead. The score tied two more times before the Rams came away with the set victory at 27-25 to force the match into a fifth set to decide a winner.

Set number five saw the Duhawks take the first two points on back-to-back kills from Mixan and Alberto but Cornell's Amonica and Logan Ealy replied by doing just the same. That was the last time the set score saw itself tied, as the Duhawks came away with four points on a Mixan service ace and three Rams errors. The Duhawks never trailed in the set with Casper excelling offensively for the Duhawks to grab the fifth set by their widest margin of the night with a final score of 15-8 to knock off the No. 11 ranked team from Cornell. 

Casper owned the floor offensively for the Duhawks posting a career-high 18 kills against the Rams, followed by Alberto who had a season-high 15 on the night, hitting .387 percent. Wilgenbusch posted 15 kills of her own with a .333 hitting percentage while Mixan added 14 kills. Alberto was a wall defensively with four blocks on the night, joined by Olivia Smith who had two and Mixan who recorded one. Hoskins led the match with career-high 53 assists on the night while Krystal Tranel put up 22 digs.

The Duhawks are back in action on Saturday, Mar. 13 as they host Buena Vista University at Lillis Court. The match is slated to start at 2:00 PM.