ST. LOUIS, Mo.  – The Luther College volleyball team played more tough competition on the final day of the WashU Invite. The Norse faced two tough opponents Saturday afternoon in UW-La Crosse and Illinois-Wesleyan and looked to leave St. Louis, Missouri with their sixth win of the 2022 season. That was, unfortunately, not in the cards for Luther, as the team dropped both contests Saturday afternoon by 3-0 scores. With the losses, the Norse are now 5-16 overall and 0-3 in American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) play. 

MATCH #1: Luther (0) vs. UW-La Crosse (3)
Luther battled in its opening match of the day, as the Norse played the Eagles well through the majority of the three set match. However, Luther would run into little issues here and there, resulting in long serving runs for UW-La Crosse, and ultimately wins for the opponent. In the opening two sets, Luther tallied just 14 total kills as a team, hitting .121 in set one and .085 in the second set, resulting in 25-18 and 25-19 losses. 

It looked like the Norse were poised for a rally in the third set, as they hung with UW-La Crosse point for point well into the 20s. In fact, things looked to be churning Luther's direction, as the team readied to turn the match around and force a fourth set. However, in the end, the Eagles were the victorious team, as they took the third set 25-23 to win the match 3-0 (18-25, 19-25, 23-25). 

Brianna Highum (Waseca, Minn. / Waseca) led the team in kills against UW-La Crosse, tallying six total on 26 attempts. Sarina Stortz (Mabel, Minn. / Mabel-Canton) hit the best of anyone on the team. Though she only tallied five total kills, Stortz did not commit a single error as Luther's starting middle blocker, closing the match with a team-leading hitting percentage of .417. 

MATCH #2: Luther (0) vs. Illinois-Wesleyan (3)
After struggling, but improving, in the opening match against the Eagles, the Norse were looking to rebound with a big win over the Trojans. It seemed like the momentum was trending in Luther's direction, as the team hung with Illinois-Wesleyan point-for-point early in the match. However, the Spartans snagged the momentum late, claiming the first set 25-20. The Norse were unable to recover in the second, as Illinois-Wesleyan took a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-13 win in set number two. 

Like in the first set against UW-La Crosse, though, the Norse responded in a big way in the third set. Luther played much better offense in the third set of the match, hitting .200 as a team with six kills and just two errors. Again, though, struggles on defense plagued the Norse late in the match, as Illinois-Wesleyan ultimately claimed the third set 25-22 to win the match 3-0 (20-25, 13-25, 22-25). 

Stortz once again led all Luther hitters, as she hit .417 for the second time Saturday afternoon with five kills on 12 swings and zero errors. The junior middle blocker also tallied two solo blocks in the three-season effort, while Highum tallied a solo block and block assists. 

UP NEXT
Luther will return to A-R-C play this week, as the Norse travel for a conference match against Central College. First serve is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. CT in Pella, Iowa.

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