DECORAH, IOWA – The Luther volleyball team opened the American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) season with a 3-0 loss to Coe College (17-25, 19-25, 15-25). The second was the most competitive with six lead changes and seven times the score was tied. Luther is 5-10 overall and 0-1 in A-R-C.
In the first set, Coe jumped to an 11-4 lead before Luther found their footing.
Sarina Stortz earned all the points for the Norse off of kills. Rallying back the Norse fought their way back within three points with a service ace from
Karoline Tiu at 10-13. Midway through the set the two teams exchanged points but the Kohawks lead kept growing.
Emily Hagen would record the final two kills of the set as Coe won the set 25-17.
The second set was competitive for both teams as there were six lead changes and seven times the score was tied. The Norse were down 12-8, but they quickly strung together a 5-0 run to take the lead by one with a kill from
Julianne Lundvall. Coe was never too far behind staying within striking distance. Luther got a few points back off of errors from Coe taking a 17-15 lead after a kill from
Haley Gossman. Then the Kohawks reclaimed the lead on a six-point run. The Norse tried to rally after
Emma Kowalczyk put one away but the Kohawks took the set 25-19.
In the final set of the match the Kohawks held the lead from the first point. After a slow start from the Norse, they picked up the pace in a must win set to extend the match.
Zoe Verhey tallied a kill as Luther was behind by four points at 16-12. However, another successful run of five points put the Kohawks three away from securing a victory.
Kyah Olson-Sola set up
Julianne Lundvall for the kill as Luther kept battling. Coe closed out the set 25-15 taking the match 3-0. Luther drops its first conference match of the season in the A-R-C opener.
Stortz led the team with 10 kills hitting .400 in the match. Kowalczyk had 21 assists and leading the defense in digs was Olson-Sola with nine.
UP NEXT
The Luther hosts a triangular with Central College and UW-Stout on Saturday, September 30. They play the Dutch at 1 pm followed by the Blue Devils at 5 pm.
