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

Sept. 1, 2021 - Volleyball was back in the Athletic and Wellness Center Wednesday night as the Loras College women's volleyball team (1-0, 0-0 A-R-C) played host to Wisconsin-neighboring foe University of Wisconsin-Platteville (0-1, 0-1 WIAC). After the score remained at a stalemate and the end of the fourth set, the match went into a tie-breaking fifth set that saw the Duhawks claim their first victory of the season. 

Platteville struck first in the first set of the match, taking a quick 4-0 advantage over Loras but the Duhawks slowly climbed their way back into the game early. Down by three, senior hitter Lyndsi Wilgenbusch struck on an assisted ball from Sara Hoskins that started a five point to put the Duhawks up by two at 10-8. The two teams traded blows with the score tying twice more before a service error by Platteville's Abby Feldmann put the ball back at the Loras service line. A kill and a pair of Platteville errors put the Duhawks back up again by two at 15-13 but again the Pioneers found their way back in the lead late. With the Pioneers holding onto set point at 24-21, the Duhawks scored five straight to close out the set at 26-24 to go ahead 1-0. 

An attacking error off the hand of Platteville's Feldmann gave Loras their first point of the set that was quickly followed by two more points on a Sam Stoffregen service ace and a kill from Wilgenbusch. The Duhawks held onto the lead through the middle portion of the half, going on four more multi-point scoring runs to go ahead by eight at 17-9. The Pioneers worked their way back within two of the Duhawks late in the set at 22-20 but a kill from Liz Fleckenstein spoiled the Platteville scoring run and sparked back-to-back points in favor of Loras to bring the score to set point at 24-20. The set closed out with a Feldmann service error to put the Duhawks at a 2-0 advantage going into the third set. 

The third set of the night saw the Pioneers get off to an immediate five point lead but Loras kept fighting back, coming within two on eight different occasions as the two regional foes took their turns posting points back and forth. Platteville held onto the narrow lead, however, and took the set with a 25-20 score to avoid the sweep. 

With the score at 2-1 going into set number four, it was again Platteville that scored four quick points from the jump but a huge kill from Olivia Smith brought the Duhawks' offense back to life. The kill was followed by back-to-back service aces from Moira Mixan and an attacking error from Platteville's Emma Carlson tied the game up at six apiece. Platteville pulled away again in the middle portion of the set, scoring six straight to go ahead 13-7. Loras clawed their way back within two twice more late in the game but the Pioneers held on to win 25-19 and force the match into a fifth set to decide the victor. 

The Duhawks took an immediate 1-0 lead in set number five off of an attacking error from Hailey Youngren, but Platteville took three straight to go ahead by two but Wilgenbusch slammed the door shut on the Pioneers, throwing down four kills in a five point run while freshman Cat Gleason did her part at the service line and placed a perfect serve on the seam to give the Duhawks a 6-3 advantage. Loras held onto the lead through the remainder of the set with Wilgenbusch closing out the match in thrilling fashion on a monster of a kill to win the set 15-13 and solidify the 3-2 match victory. 

Wilgenbusch kicked off the season with a career-best performance offensively, tallying 18 kills in the match while Mixan added 13 and Fleckenstein had eight. Three Duhawks each had a pair of service aces in Mixan, Hoskins and Stoffregen while Krystal Tranel and Gleason each added one apiece. Defensively, Smith was a brick wall, notching four blocks while Wilgenbusch had three to her name and Mixan with two. Graduate student libero Tranel led the match with 34 digs to her name.

The Duhawks return to action on Friday, Sept. 3 as they travel to Lake Forest, Ill. to compete in the Forester Invite, hosted by Lake Forest College. The first match of the night will see Loras take on Mount Mary University at 6:00 PM followed by an 8:00 PM matchup against Benedictine University.