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

LAKE FOREST, Ill. (Sept. 3, 2021) - After opening the season in thrilling fashion with a five set win over the University of Wisconsin - Platteville, the Loras College women's volleyball team (3-0, 0-0 A-R-C) hit the road to Lake Forest, Ill. to compete in the Forester Invite, hosted by Lake Forest College. In the first day of the two-day tournament, the Duhawks shut out Mount Mary University in three sets (0-3, 0-0 NACC) and downed Benedictine University (0-2, 0-0 NACC) three sets to one. 

In the first game of the night, the Duhawks took on the Blue Angels from Mount Mary, and dominated from the jump. Liz Fleckenstein sparked the Loras offense with a kill for the first point of the match that was followed by a pair of errors from Mount Mary to put the Duhawks up 3-0 immediately. The two teams traded points back and forth before a service error from Aislinn Strusz gave Loras their sixth point of the match and put freshman Cat Gleason at the service line. Back-to-back kills from the hand of Lyndsi Wilgenbusch and another Mount Mary error widened the Loras lead by five at 9-4. Later in the set, Gleason highlighted a five point scoring tear in favor of the Duhawks, notching two kills while Moira Mixan and Sara Hoskins each had one. The run was rounded out by an attacking error from Brianna Ecker to put the Duhawks up 18-11. A pair of kills from Wilgenbusch and Fleckenstein closed the door on the first set at 25-16 to give Loras a 1-0 advantage entering the second set. 

Set two saw the Duhawks put the pedal to the floor and keep it there, as the score found itself tied at 3-3 but that was the closest Mount Mary came to disrupting the Duhawks. Scoring three straight on two different occasions early in the set, the Duhawks went ahead 9-5 before a setting error ended the scoring run but the Duhawks picked up where they left off, throwing down four straight kills with Mixan and Fleckenstein each hitting two apiece in the four point stretch. The Duhawks jumped ahead by ten at 16-6 and didn't let up the remainder of the set, allowing Mount Mary to only score five more times to take set two 25-11. 

Ahead by two entering the third stanza of the match, the Duhawks continued to dominate as Fleckenstein again posted the first point of the set on a kill assisted by setter Hoskins. Loras held the lead through the remainder of the set, pulling away by six points after back-to-back kills from Olivia Smith and Fleckenstein took the score to 10-4. Mount Mary slowly tried to come back but the Duhawks proved to be too much to handle late in the match. With Abbey Kwiatkoski at the service line, Loras posted three straight to widen their lead to eight points, finally putting an end to the match on a pair of kills from James Keefe and Gleason to close out the set with a 25-15 final score. 

Wilgenbusch excelled offensively with 16 kills to her name while Fleckenstein had nine and Mixan one behind with eight. The Duhawks had four services aces in the match with two coming from Mixan while Hoskins and Gleason each had one. Defensively, Smith had two blocks in the match while Wilgenbusch had one each. Hoskins led the match in digs with 13, followed by Mixan with eight and libero Krystal Tranel with eight. 

Match two of the night saw the Duhawks take on Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) foe Benedictine University. Picking up right where they left off, Loras continued to dominate their opponents with Fleckenstein striking first in set number one. The score tied only once more at 1-1 before the Duhawks took off running away with the lead, going up by three early on a pair of errors and a service ace from Gleason. The Duhawks widened their lead to five points at 7-2 on a bad set by Benedictine's Courtney Levy that was followed by kills from Wilgenbusch and Hoskins. Later in the set and ahead by seven, two service aces from the serve of Sam Stoffregen and a kill from Mixan gave Loras a ten point lead at 17-7 and kept pressing on, winning the set with a final score of 25-13. 

Benedictine came back in the second set of the match and took an early 2-0 lead, and held onto that lead until a Wilgenbusch kill and an Eagles attacking error brought the score to an even 6-6. The score remained close, but the Eagles to fight on with the Duhawks clawing back, staying within two points a majority of the set before pulling away by five at 19-14. Despite the Loras comeback effort, the Eagles prevailed to tie the match score at 1-1 after two to avoid a three set sweep. 

After Benedictine took the first point of the third set, the Duhawks immediately reclaimed the lead, going on a three point tear to go ahead 3-1 before the Eagles scored three straight of their own to take the lead once more. That lead would be the last lead the Eagles had in the set, as Loras came back and continued to press on offense, pulling ahead by five on a four point run that was highlighted by Talia McAtee, whose two service aces accounted for two of the four points of the stretch. Already with a comfortable lead, the Duhawks went ahead by their largest margin of the set at 21-12 after scoring four straight on a Gleason kill, two more Stoffregen service aces and a Benedictine error. Some points later, Smith solidified the set three win at 25-17 on a kill from a perfect pass from Hoskins to go ahead 2-1 going into the fourth set. 

Early in the fourth set, the Duhawks trailed by three at 4-1, but quickly came back to take the lead after scoring six straight, led by Gleason who posted three of the six points on a pair of service aces and a kill. Loras continued to attack the Eagles late in the set, putting up another five points straight as attacking errors plagued Benedictine to put the Duhawks up 20-11. The Duhawks continued to hold the lead through the remainder of the set as a bad set from Benedictine's Sam Zurawski closed out the set with a final score of 25-14 in favor of Loras to put a close on the match at 3-1. 

Loras dominated at the service line, posting ten service aces in the match with Stoffregen owning half of the total with a career-best five of her own while Gleason had three and McAtee with two. Wilgenbusch led the match with 12 kills of her own followed by Fleckenstein with nine and Mixan who had six. Gleason not only excelled at the service line but at the net defensively, as well, putting down five blocks while Wilgenbusch joined with four and Fleckenstein with two. Hoskins had a phenomenal match, tallying 36 assists at setter and Tranel posted 15 digs at libero while McAtee had 11. 

The Duhawks are set to compete in the final day of the Forester Invite on Saturday, Sept. 4 as they face No. 5 Carthage College at 12:00 PM and Marian University at 2:00 PM in Lake Forest, Ill.