ST. LOUIS, Mo.  – The Luther College volleyball team was on a roll entering Friday's match against Washington-University-St. Louis. The Norse were coming off their most exciting win of the season thanks to their comeback victory over Saint Mary's on Wednesday and were looking to extend their win streak to two matches with an upset of the #6 Bears. Unfortunately, nationally-ranked WashU proved to be too much for Luther, as the team fell to 5-14 overall with a 3-0 (13-25, 12-25, 20-25) loss Friday afternoon. 

MATCH SUMMARY
The Norse had an upset on their mind in the opening match of the WashU Invitational, as they were poised and ready to upset the #6 team in the country. Luther, though, had some work to do after dropping the first set by a score of 25-13. The Norse hit just .036 as a team in the opener, just their defense was unable to stop the red-hot Bears, as WashU's hitters posted a blistering  .342 hitting percentage in the first set. Unfortunately, the hosts were even better in set two, as the Bears wracked up 15 kills and just two errors on 30 attempts to take a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-12 victory in the second. 

Still, the Norse battled in the third, pushing WashU to the very brink before the end. Despite trailing 6-2 early, Luther rallied behind a serving run by Emma Kowalczyk (Colgate, Wis. / Catholic Memorial) to cut the deficit to 7-6. From that point on, the Norse were always within three of the Bears, as a multitude of aces kept Luther within striking distance. Kaitlyn Dailey (Utica, Minn. / St. Charles) and Gabbie Schei (Stewartville, Minn. / Stewartville) tallied aces on three of four points, giving the Norse their first lead of the match at 15-14. 

From that point, Luther seemed to be cruising and poised to take the third set from the #6 ranked team in the country. Emily Hagen (Owatonna, Minn. / Owatonna) flipped the momentum to the Norse side with a kill, giving her team a two-point cushion at 17-15. As in past matches, though, service receive struggles plagued Luther late in the set, as receiving errors and miscues allowed WashU to not only tie the set at 17-17, but take a 19-17 lead. Luther battled for the remainder of the set, but the team couldn't recover after the Bears late run, resulting in the 3-0 (13-25, 12-25, 20-25) loss. 

TOP NORSE

• Emily Hagen (Owatonna, Minn. / Owatonna) led the team with seven kills, while Emma Kowalczyk (Colgate, Wis. / Catholic Memorial) tallied 18 assists. 

UP NEXT
Luther will close the weekend with two matches on Saturday, as the team is set to take on UW-La Crosse and Illinois Wesleyan, First serve against the Eagles is set for 12:00 p.m. CT in St. Louis, Minnesota with the set against the Tojans to follow. 

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