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

GRINNELL, Iowa (Sept. 10, 2021) - The Loras College women's volleyball team (6-1, 0-0 A-R-C) took on the Grinnell College Pioneers (5-4, 0-0 Midwest) and Augustana College Vikings (3-4, 0-0 CCIW) Friday night in a non-conference triangular hosted by Grinnell. Game one of the night saw the Duhawks own Grinnell in straight sets and down the Vikings 3-1 to improve to 6-1 on the season. 

The Duhawks took the lead from the jump against Grinnell, seeing the game tie three times before outscoring the Pioneers by a whopping 10-2 margin in the middle of the set, highlighted by Dubuque, Iowa native Liz Fleckenstein, who had four straight kills in the run. Loras continued pressing down on the gas at the end of the set, holding Grinnell to just 13 points in the set win by a final score of 25-13. 

Set two of the match saw more domination from the Duhawks, going up 4-0 immediately on a kill from Fleckstein that was followed by a Grinnell attacking error, a kill from Lyndsi Wilgenbusch and a service ace from Sam Stoffregen. The Pioneers tried to climb back to the lead, coming within one of the Duhawks at 12-11 but a trio of kills from Wilgenbusch and setter Sara Hoskins pulled Loras ahead by four at 15-11. Loras didn't look back from that point, going on a pair of three-point scoring runs before a huge kill from freshman middle Cat Gleason put an end to the set at 25-19 to give the Duhawks a 2-0 advantage going into the third set. 

In the final set of the match, the Pioneers came out of the gate the hottest they'd been all match, going ahead 5-2 early before back-to-back Grinnell errors and a Wilgenbusch kill tied the game back at 5-5. In the middle of the set, the Duhawks found themselves down by four, but continued to fight back to narrow the margin to just two after Fleckenstein and Wilgenbusch threw down two straight kills. Grinnell held the lead for the majority of the set, but the Duhawks' grit was on display as they clawed back from a 20-17 deficit, outscoring the Pioneers 6-1 to take the lead again at 22-21. The two teams traded blows late, tying the game three times before two straight Pioneer attacking errors closed the set out at 26-24 to give Loras their first win of the night. 

Loras owned the net offensively, amassing a total of 42 kills to Grinnell's 28, led by Wilgebusch and Fleckenstein who led the match with 14 kills apiece. Hoskins had two of the Duhawks' three service aces in the match while Stoffregen added one. Gleason held down the defense at the net with three blocks to her name while Moira Mixan and Wilgenbusch joined with two each. Libero Krystal Tranel led the match with 25 digs in the match with Mixan adding 15 and Hoskins with 12. 

Match number two of the night saw the Duhawks take on College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) foe Augustana College. The Duhawks got off to a slower start against the Vikings, falling behind early and dropping set one by a 25-13 final score in favor of Augustana before picking back up where they left off in the match prior. 

Set two got started with a kill from Mixan before Augustana responded with three points of their own. But the Duhawks fought back immediately to take the lead once more on a kill from Fleckenstein followed by a Mixan kill, an Augustana ball handling error and an ace from the serve of Stoffregen to go up 5-3. The two teams battled it out through the majority of the set, seeing the score tie a whopping eight times in the remainder of the set before Olivia Smith kick-started the Loras offense with a kill that was followed up by a pair of kills from Fleckenstein. Augustana tried to fight back to the lead but a kill from the heavy hand of Mixan ended the set with a 25-23 score to tie the match at 1-1 going into the third set. 

The beginning of the third set started much like the second half of the second set: both teams duking it out, staying with two points of each other. Fleckenstein broke the stalemate at 7-7 to spark a three point scoring run to give the Duhawks their largest lead at that point in the set, going ahead 10-7 but the Vikings continued to keep it close through the midsection of the set. With the Duhawks in the lead by three at 15-12, the Vikings succumbed to repeated attacking errors, giving Loras four straight points on errors to put the Duhawks up 20-12. The Vikings only went on to score three more times on the Duhawks before a kill from Gleason gave the Duhawks a huge 25-15 set victory. 

Up 2-1 going into the fourth set, the Duhawks put points on the board first off of a bad set from Augustana's Lexis Miller. However, Augustana answered by scoring eight straight to take a 9-2 lead. The Duhawks' toughness continued to be on display in the set, though, as they found themselves down by eight 15-7 in the middle of the set. The comeback was a slow one for Loras, climbing back into the set point by point, eventually catching fire in the very end of the set. Down by six at 21-15, Amelia Gutierrez put down a kill that fired up the offense, seeing the Duhawks go on a five point tear, highlighted by a pair of service aces from junior Talia McAtee that brough the Duhawks within one at 21-20. From that point, the set tied a total of four more times, and with the score tied at 25-25, a Wilgenbusch kill put Gleason at the service line to wrap up the trip to Grinnell with a beautiful service ace to give Loras their second win of the night with a final score of 27-25. 

Fleckenstein continued her lights-out night offensively with 13 kills to her name, followed by Wilgenbusch with 12 and Mixan with two. McAtee's serve abilities were on display all night against Augustana, leading the match with three aces while Mixan had two and Stoffregen and Gleason each added one. Freshman Gutierrez led the Duhawks defensively with two blocks to her name, while Tranel led the match with 19 digs. Hoskins did her part at setter, recording a match-leading 41 assists to help solidify the win. 

The Duhawks return to Lillis Court on Wednesday, Sept. 15 as they play host to cross-town rival the University of Dubuque in their first American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) matchup of the season. The match is scheduled to begin at 7:30 PM.