DUBUQUE, Iowa – The Luther College volleyball team did a lot of things right in Wednesday's American River Conference (A-R-C) match at the University of Dubuque. Thanks to strong serving and the hot hand of Sarina Stortz (Mabel, Minn. / Mabel-Canton), the Norse led early and often Wednesday night in their quest for their first A-R-C win of the season. Unfortunately, Luther was unable to leave Dubuque with a "W", as the team fell in three close sets 3-0 (24-26, 20-25, 20-25). With the loss, the team's overall record now stands at 4-11 and 0-3 in A-R-C play.
HOW ABOUT THEM ACES?
The Norse had the hot hand, literally, to open the match as they raced out to a 5-0 lead over their hosts, courtesy of Hannah LaBonte (Lake City, Minn. / Lincoln). The sophomore middle blocker rattled off four consecutive service aces as the first serve of the set, giving Luther the advantage early in the first. Kaitlyn Dailey (Utica, Minn. / St. Charles) added to the ace total, extending the Norse lead to 8-2 and forcing the Spartans to take an early timeout.
Dubuque came out of the set reset and refocused, but Luther continued to hold an advantage. A bad rotation on serve receive, though, allowed the Spartans to even the match at 21-21 and eventually take a 24-22 lead. The Norse, though, won back-to-back points, using kills from Brianna Highum (Waseca, Minn. / Waseca) to even the set 24-24 and force another Dubuque timeout.
Again, the Spartans regained an advantage out of the timeout, as they won two consecutive points to claim the first set 26-24. Luther wasn't deterred, and again took an early 5-1 lead in the second. The team's biggest struggle, though, was consistency. Other than Stortz the Norse hitters struggled to find the floor against Dubuque's stingy defense. Down 24-14, though, Luther fought off six set points before falling 25-20 in the second.
The third set proved to be the tightest of the evening, as neither the Norse or the Spartans could gain momentum. Midway through, the two teams were deadlocked in a 12-12 draw, trading points like middle schoolers trading their lunches at school. Eventually, though, Dubuque broke ahead 15-12, forcing Luther to call a timeout. The Norse hung with the Spartans, cutting the lead to 21-19 on kills by LaBonte and Dailey. However, Luther couldn't handle Emma Powell or Dubuque's serves, as the Norse fell 25-20 in set three and 3-0 (24-26, 20-25, 20-25) in the match.
TOP NORSE
- Sarina Stortz (Mabel, Minn. / Mabel-Canton) was a force to be reckoned with for Luther, as she tallied a team-leading 11 kills on 18 attempts, closing the match with an impressive .611 hitting percentage.
- Emma Kowalczyk (Colgate, Wis. / Catholic Memorial) ended the match with 23 assists and three aces, while Kyah Olson-Sola (Northfield, Minn. / Northfield) led the team with 13 kills.
- Hannah LaBonte (Lake City, Minn. / Lincoln) closed the match with five aces; however, it's not her highest total of the season. LaBonte tallied seven aces in a five-set match against Marion on September 16, which ranks second all-time in program history, according to available records.
QUOTABLES
Thoughts from head coach
Brittany Sisk:
"We had moments of greatness tonight against a team we haven't competed with for a long time. When this team reaches their full potential, they are going to be hard to beat."
UP NEXT
The Norse will open October at the Carleton Triangular hosted by Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. Luther's first match against Macalester College is set to begin at 12:30 p.m., and the team will face the host Knights at roughly 2:30 p.m.
For all the latest on Luther Volleyball, stay tuned to luthernorse.com and follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
