Oct. 4, 2022 – Loras College's women's volleyball team was in for a battle on Tuesday night but came away with a 3-1 win over the Ripon College Red Hawks after four long, unpredictable sets.

The Duhawks (5-13) and Red Hawks (2-15) had met once earlier in the season as Loras came out with a sweep on Sept. 2 in Whitewater, Wis., but Ripon was determined not to get shutout the second time around.

Loras ran out to a quick 5-0 lead in the first set, but a well-timed timeout from the Red Hawks allowed them to regroup and rally back to make it 10-10.  From there the opening set was a game of runs as both sides had their moments, but it was the Red Hawks who prevailed 28-26 to prevent another sweep.

The Duhawks jumped out to a big lead to start the second set, but this time they never wavered as they dominated the second frame for a 25-15 victory to even the match. Loras accounted for just one attacking error to establish a .316 hitting percentage in the set.

The third set went down to the wire as neither team could put distance on the other. A late 6-1 Loras run was nearly enough to punctuate the set, but a short burst from the Red Hawks forced the Duhawks to call a timeout with a 23-22 lead. The timeout worked as the Duhawks claimed each of the next two points to take a 2-1 lead in the match.

Ripon pushed the Duhawks to brink in the fourth as the Red Hawks tried for force a fifth set. With the score tied at 24 all, senior middle blocker Olivia Smith tallied her team-best 13^th kill of the match to put the Duhawks up by one, then teamed up with senior pin James Keefe for a block on match point to punctuate the win.

Smith led the way for one of the most balanced offensive attacks the Duhawks have produced all season. Her 13 kills set a new career-high and topped a quartet of Duhawks who reached double figures in that category while she accumulated a .565 attacking percentage and finished the match without a single error.

Sophomore middle blocker Cat Gleason (12), freshman pin Sophie Younkin (11), and Keefe (10) where the other three Duhawks with double-digit kills while freshman hitter Alexis Woltman was close behind with nine.

Loras gets back to American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) play on Friday, Oct. 7 with a match at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa. Game time is set for 6 P.M.