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

Sept. 29, 2021 - After a two-game stretch on the road last weekend, the Loras College women's volleyball team (12-3, 1-1 A-R-C) returned home to Lillis Court in a midweek non-conference battle with the Rams from Cornell College (9-6, 2-0 Midwest). Senior pin Liz Fleckenstein continued her red-hot season for the Duhawks, upping her previous career-best to 20 kills in the four set victory. 

Fleckenstein put the Duhawks on the board immediately in the first set on an assist from Sara Hoskins to put Loras up 1-0 but the two teams traded scoring back-and-forth before Cornell pulled away by two at 12-10 on a pair of kills from Ilah Perez-Johnson. The Duhawks overcame the two-point deficit immediately, though, going on a three point tear on two kills from Lynsdi Wilgenbusch and an attacking error by Cornell's Rory Light. The Rams continued to climb back into the game, and took the first set 25-21. 

After the Rams struck first in the second set, Fleckenstein again sparked the Loras offense, starting a three point run with a kill followed by a Cornell error and another Wilgenbusch kill. Cornell didn't stay behind for long, tying the score back at seven apiece before the Duhawks struck back on three-straight kills from Fleckenstein, Hoskins and Cat Gleason. The Duhawks extended their lead by a comfortable eight points moments later, scoring six straight on just one kill and five straight Cornell errors to go ahead 20-12. Loras held onto the lead through the remainder of the set with Moira Mixan throwing down a kill to secure the 25-18 set win and tie the match score at 1-1. 

Cornell went up early in the third set, at one point seeing themselves with a three point lead at 5-2 before back-to-back errors and two straight kills from Wilgenbsuch gave Loras the lead once more at 6-5. The score tied a handful of times before the Duhawks put five straight on the board on three kills from Fleckenstein, a Rams error and a Hoskins kill to take a 14-10 lead in the middle of the set. The Duhawks held onto the wide lead through the later portion of the set despite the Rams' efforts, but eventually Cornell's work paid off, bringing them within two of the Duhawks after scoring three straight. Fleckenstein was having none of it, however, putting up two of the three straight points the Duhawks scored immediately after to go up again by five with James Keefe closing out the set with a huge kill to secure the 25-20 win. 

As was the story in the previous set, the Rams went ahead early in the fourth, but they gave the lead up quickly on three straight errors to tie the score at 4-4. Cornell continued to chip away at Loras, taking a small lead and holding onto the lead until another pair of errors tied the game once more at 8-8. Later in the set and down by four, the Duhawks scored two straight on a Keefe kill and a service ace from Gleason to come back within two. The Rams widened the lead to five again after scoring three more, but that only sparked the Loras offense again as they posted six straight with Wilgenbusch leading the way with three kills in the run while Mixan added two aces and Olivia Smith had a kill of her own to go ahead by one at 19-18. It was a battle to the end, as the Duhawks trailed by two with the Rams a mere three points from securing the victory and forcing a fifth set, but Fleckenstein again jumpstarted the Duhawks with two straight kills that led to a trio of Cornell errors to end the match on a five point run and give Loras the 25-22 set victory to close out the match with a final score of 3-1. 

Fleckenstein was on fire at the net with 20 kills to her name while Wilgenbusch followed with 18 of her own. The Duhawks' six aces on the night came from three different players with Krystal Tranel flooring two, Mixan adding two, and Gleason putting down two. Defensively, Tranel was solid with 33 digs in the match while Hoskins and Mixan accounted for 38 more, combined. Smith was impressive defensively, as well, with five total blocks in the match while Wilgenbusch had four and Hoskins with three. 

The Duhawks return to Lillis Court on Friday, Oct. 1 during Homecoming Weekend as they square off against conference foe Luther College. The match is scheduled to begin at 6:00 PM.