DECORAH, Iowa  – The Luther College volleyball team played another competitive match on its home court Saturday afternoon. The Norse took on the heavily favored Nebraska-Wesleyan Prairie Wolves in the hopes of moving up the American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) standings entering the final weekend of the regular season. Luther was sadly unable to come away with a victory Saturday afternoon, as the Norse fell by final score of 3-1 (25-21, 16-25, 18-25, 21-25). With the loss, Luther is now 6-19 overall and 1-6 in A-R-C play. 

BY THE NUMBERS
The Norse took the Prairie Wolves by storm in the opener despite trailing early in the set. In fact, it was Nebraska-Wesleyan that looked to have the upper hand, as the visitors jumped out to a 5-1 lead. Luther chipped away at the four point deficit, using a serving run by Kaitlyn Dailey (Utica, Minn. / St. Charles) to tie the set at 5-5 before gaining a 7-5 advantage. That two point lead would hold through the remainder of the set and would eventually extend, as kills by Emma Kowalczyk (Colgate, Ws. / Catholic Memorial) and Hannah LaBonte (Lake City, Minn. / Lincoln) boosted the Norse lead to 12-6. 

The Prairie Wolves tried to make things interesting in the later stages of the first set, as they cut Luther's lead to 16-14. It was no harm, no foul, as the Norse rattled off another serving run, this time on the serve of LaBonte. The junior middle blocker served  Luther to a 21-14 lead before Gabbie Schei (Stewartville, Minn. / Stewartville) served the Norse home, as kills from Brianna Highum (Waseca, Minn, / Waseca), Sarina Stortz (Mabel, Minn. / Mabel-Canton) and Kowalczyk secured the 25-15 first set victory for Luther. 

Nebraska-Wesleyan evened the match at 1-1 in the second, as the Prairie Wolves used tough serving to win the set 25-16. The third set proved to be as tight as the first two, but it was once again the aggressive serving of Nebraska-Wesleyan that resulted in a Prairie Wolves victory, as they claimed the third set 25-18 for a 2-1 lead in the match. Early in the fourth, it looked like Luther was destined to force the fifth, as the Norse took a 7-3 lead on an ace by Dailey. Though Nebraska-Wesleyan tied the set at 7-7, Luther managed to regain the advantage, jumping out to a 12-9 lead then extending it to 16-14. A four-point run by the Prairie Wolves, though, spelled doom for the Norse, as Nebraska-Wesleyan jumped out a 24-19 lead late in the set. Luther fought off two match points before the Prairie Wolves secured the win with a tip by their setter, winning the fourth set 25-21 and the match 3-1 (25-25, 25-16, 25-18 25-21).

TOP NORSE

• Sarina Stortz (Mabel, Minn. / Mabel-Canton) tallied double-digit kills for the second consecutive match with a team-leading 15. Zoe Verhey (Dassel, Minn. / Dassel-Cokato) added eight kills in the loss. 
• Sophomore libero Kyah Olson-Sola (Northfield, Minn. / Northfield) was credited with 22 digs in the match, while Gabbie Schei (Stewartville, Minn. / Stewartville) and Kaitlyn Dailey (Utica, Minn. / St. Charles) each added 13. 
• Emma Kowalczyk (Colgate, Wis. / Catholic Memorial) recorded 33 assists , six kills and eight digs. 

QUOTABLES
Thoughts from head coach Brittany Sisk:

"We had some really great moments of promise for the future this weekend. We battled in situations where we have typically struggled in the past."

"We have some work to do this week to be more consistent throughout a set and be ready to wrap up the A-R-C regular season schedule with Wartburg next week."

UP NEXT
The Norse will host Wartburg College in their final home match of the 2022 season. At this time, the match is scheduled for Wednesday, October 26 with first serve set for 6:00 p.m. CT.

For all the latest on Luther Volleyball, stay tuned to luthernorse.com and follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.