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

Sept. 18, 2021 - In the final day of the Loras Invite, the Loras College women's volleyball team (10-1, 1-0 A-R-C) squared off against the Cardinals from St. Mary's University (5-7, 1-0 MIAC). Epworth, Iowa native Lyndsi Wilgenbusch had a dominant showing offensively, flooring a career-best 24 kills in the match to catapult the Duhawks to their seventh straight win of the season. 

The beginning of the first set saw each side trade points before the Duhawks went ahead by two on back-to-back kills from Olivia Smith and setter Sara Hoskins to go up 6-4. Loras pulled away by five in the middle of the set on a pair of kills from Liz Fleckenstein and Cat Gleason, rounded out by an attacking error from Ciarra McNally to bring the score to 11-6 in favor of the Duhawks. Loras outscored St. Mary's 6-1 later in the set to go up by a wide eight point margin at 20-12. The set closed out on two straight kills from Fleckenstein and Wilgenbusch to see the Duhawks secure a 25-18 set victory. 

Set two saw the same beginning as the first set as the two teams went back and forth before the Cardinals struck four times in a row to go up 8-4. Late in the set, the Duhawks went on two multi-point runs to outscore St. Mary's 7-1 to take the lead for the first time in the set at 19-17. St. Mary's responded by putting two more on the board in a row to tie the set at 19-19 but two kills from Moira Mixan and Gleason gave Loras the lead once more at 21-19. St. Mary's kept the score close through the remainder of the set but again it was Wilgenbusch who slammed the door shut on the Cardinals with a kill to give the Duhawks their second set win of the match at 25-22. 

Trying to avoid a sweep, the Cardinals struck first in the third set on a kill from Elise Amerongen but the lead didn't last long as a pair of kills from Wilgenbusch brought the score to 3-2 early. Wilgenbusch continued to carry the offense putting two more up followed by a Mixan service ace to give Loras a three point lead. The Cardinals continued to stay in the game, though, tying the score at 10-10 but kills from Mixan and Wilgenbusch, followed by two straight aces from Mixan extended the lead to five points at 16-11. Late in the set with match point on the line, St. Mary's scored three straight to tie the set at 24-24, ultimately prevailing with a 27-25 final score to force the match into a fourth set. 

Loras opened the fourth set of the match by scoring four straight, kickstarted by a Fleckenstein still followed by a St. Mary's error, a kill from Mixan and a service ace from the hand of Sam Stoffregen. Loras contained the Cardinals through the middle of the set, going ahead by 10 after outscoring them 8-2, nailing five straight kills to bring the score to 17-7. The Cardinals tried to make a push late in the set but the effort was unsuccessful as Gleason threw down a kill to close the set out at 25-16 to see the Duhawks end the weekend with three match wins. 

The Duhawks were on fire offensively, hitting .313 percent with 69 total kills in the match to St. Mary's 51. Wilgenbusch posted a career-high 24 kills in the match, followed by Fleckenstein who had 16 and Mixan with 11. Mixan had four of the Duhawks' seven aces of the match, with Hoskins adding two and Stoffregen with one. Hoskins also had a career performance against St. Mary's notching 59 assists in the match. Tranel and Talia McAtee locked down the defense with Tranel posting 18 digs and McAtee with a season-high 17. 

The Duhawks are back in action on Sept. 21 as they travel to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to face the Coe College Kohawks in their second American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) matchup of the season. The match is scheduled to begin at 7:30 PM at Kohawk Arena.