MILWAUKEE, Wis. – The Loras College women's volleyball team put together a perfect Friday at the Kern Center, earning straight-set victories over Dominican University and Knox College to improve to 3-4 on the season.
Against Dominican, the Duhawks wasted little time taking control. Loras led 10-3 in the opening set before
Cydney Tath stepped to the service line and helped fuel an eight-point run. During the stretch,
Iva Senio,
Cat Meyer,
McKenna Carroll and
Isabel Hart all recorded kills, while Tath added two service aces to push the advantage to 18-3. The Duhawks eventually closed the set with back-to-back aces from
Jaylyn Schwartz for a 25-8 victory.
Loras was nearly flawless offensively in the frame, hitting .632 with 12 kills and no attack errors on 19 attempts.
Dominican responded with a much tighter second set. The two sides were tied at 11 before the Duhawks began to create some separation. Schwartz helped Loras turn a narrow advantage into a 17-15 lead, and
Kyra Kuehn followed with a kill. Dominican continued to hang around, cutting the deficit to 22-21 late in the frame. Loras answered with a
Alyssa Purvis kill and a Tath kill to reach set point before finishing off the 25-22 win.
The third set again stayed competitive early, with Dominican pulling within 14-13. From there, the Duhawks took over. Loras scored eight of the next nine points, a run that included a Meyer-Carroll block, consecutive Tath service aces and kills from Meyer and Senio to open a 22-14 advantage. Meyer later added another kill as Loras finished the sweep, 25-16.
Meyer led the offensive attack against Dominican with 14 kills on 24 swings and just one error, good for a .542 hitting percentage. Kuehn added seven kills, while Senio, Carroll and Tath each finished with four. Hart directed the offense with 25 assists and eight digs. Tath and Schwartz each recorded four aces as the Duhawks finished with 11 as a team.
Loras carried that momentum into its second match against Knox.
The opening set was tight early, with Knox taking a 7-6 advantage before Loras answered. Tath tied the set with a kill and then remained at the service line as Meyer, Senio and Carroll delivered three consecutive kills to put the Duhawks ahead 10-7. Knox stayed within striking distance, trimming the margin to 16-14, but a Kuehn kill sparked another Loras push. Carroll added a kill during the stretch before the Duhawks closed the set by scoring four straight points, including kills from Carroll and Meyer and a Tath service ace, to take it 25-16.
The second set featured five ties as Knox continued to challenge the Duhawks. Loras eventually broke away and built a 22-14 lead behind kills from Meyer and Carroll. Knox responded with six of the next seven points to pull within 23-20, but Meyer stopped the run with a kill before
Alyssa Daughenbaugh delivered a service ace on set point to give Loras the 25-20 victory.
Knox opened the third set with the first three points and later held an 8-6 advantage. Loras battled back, getting a Meyer kill and a Tath ace to tie the set at eight. After Knox evened things again at 10-10, the Duhawks seized control. A Hart kill put Loras ahead before Hart went to the service line and helped engineer a six-point run, which included a Kuehn kill, a Meyer-Purvis block and a Tath kill, pushing the advantage to 17-10.
The Duhawks never looked back. Daughenbaugh later sparked another four-point run that included a Tath kill and an ace, moving the score to 23-12. Kuehn followed with a kill at 24-13 before Tath ended the match with a kill for the 25-13 victory.
Kuehn paced Loras against Knox with 12 kills on 19 attempts, hitting .579 and adding a solo block. Tath totaled nine kills, four aces and nine digs, while Meyer added eight kills and nine digs. Carroll finished with six kills and hit .455.
Hart dished out 34 assists while Loras hit .350 as a team, finishing with 42 kills and just seven attack errors. The Duhawks hit at least .323 in all three sets and held Knox to a .124 hitting percentage.
Up Next: Loras will return to the court tomorrow for a matchup with Marian University at 12 p.m.
