ROCK ISLAND, ILL. (Oct. 1, 2022) – Loras College's women's volleyball team showed a lot of fight in a pair of road matches on Saturday afternoon but came out on the short end of a its matches with Augustana College and Grinnell College.

The Duhawks (4-13) pushed the host Vikings (14-4) to the brink in the final set of their first match on Saturday, then took the opening set in a back-and-forth contest with Grinnell (11-5) before dropping the match 3-1.

Loras started the day with a 3-0 loss to Augustana but showed a lot of resilience in the third set that saw the Duhawks hold a steady lead through the midway point. A 7-0 run with senior libero Sam Stoffregen on the serve gave the Duhawks a 14-7 lead, but the Vikings managed to chip away at the deficit thanks to four separate 3-0 scoring runs.

Senior pin James Keefe led Loras with 10 kills in the match and contributed on two of the points in the Duhawks' big run in the third set.

That strong third set carried over into the second match of the day as the Duhawks took the first set against the Grinnell Pioneers. After a back-and-forth beginning to the set, the two sides were locked in an 11-11 tie before the Duhawks finished the set on a 14-6 run to claim it 25-17.

Senior middle blocker Olivia Smith and freshman pin Sophie Younkin each tallied two kills during that stretch to help life the Duhawks to a 1-0 lead.

Grinnell claimed the second set at a 25-15 score, then claimed each of the next two sets as both went down to the wire. Loras rallied late in the third as a 5-0 run forced the set to go long, but the Pioneers survived the scare at 26-24.

The Duhawks led for much of the fourth set, but this time it was the Pioneers who staged a late run as they rattled off a 10-3 run to finish off the match with a surprising 25-23 victory.

Keefe again paced the Duhawks with 12 kills while junior setter Sara Hoskins tallied 37 assists in the match. Hoskins totaled 68 assists on Saturday and added a combined 17 digs and seven block assists to Loras' defensive efforts.

Loras returns home for a match on Tuesday, Oct. 4, versus Ripon College at 7 P.M. inside the Lillis Athletic and Wellness Center.