Volleyball splits matches on final day of Red Hawk Invitational

RIPON, Wis. – Concordia University Wisconsin split a pair of matches on the final day of the Red Hawk Invitational at Wyman Gymnasium. The Falcons were swept by Lakeland College 3-0 (19-25, 17-25, 19-25) before they defeated host Ripon College 3-2 (22-25, 13-25, 28-26, 25-25, 15-13).

Senior Ashley Faber (Kewaskum, Wis.) led the Falcons with 22 kills and hit .291 combined on the day. Junior Hannah Griffiths (Antigo, Wis.) finished with 18 kills and a team-best 25 digs, while junior Carley Valentine (De Pere, Wis.) had 11 kills and a team-high 45 assists.

Freshman Karina Klotz (Hubertus, Wis.) recorded 30 assists and junior Britta Duchow (Potter, Wis.) had 17 kills and six total blocks. CUW (4-11) ended the day with a .221 attack percentage. Overall, for the tournament the Falcons hit .183 and recorded 34 total blocks.

Match One: LC 3, CUW 0

CUW hit a match-high .213 in the opening frame, but its offense stalled during the final two sets of the match. LC finished with a .238 attack percentage and hit over .250 in the first two stanzas.

Faber led the team with eight kills, while Klotz and Valentine each connected for 10 assists. Paramore paced the team with seven digs.

Katie Freitag led the Muskies with eight kills and Amanda Dillman added seven kills. Brittany Reindl led all players with 33 assists, while Caleigh Galvan dug 11 attack attempts.

The match against the Muskies will be registered as a non-conference match, but gave the Falcons insight on its Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference foe for their league match scheduled on Tuesday, Oct. 1.

Match Two: CUW 3, RC 2

CUW won its first five-set thriller of the season after coming back from an 0-2 set deficit. It took extra points in the third set before the Falcons offense found its rhythm in the final two frames with a .500 attack percentage.

The Falcons had four players accumulate double-digit kills and were led by Griffiths 16 kills. Faber added 14, and Duchow and Valentine recorded 13 and 11, respectively. Valentine and Klotz directed the offense for a combined 55 assists.

Defensively, Griffiths led the team with 21 digs and Paramore dug 17 attack attempts. Duchow also added two block solos and four block assists.

Karlye Wehner led the Red Hawks with 18 kills, while three of teammates registered double-figure kills totals. Abbie Williamson led all players with 51 assists, while Brianne Milroy had a match-high 22 digs.

There were 14 scoring ties and eight lead changes in the match.

During the third set, the Falcons held a six-point advantage midway through and held off a late Red Hawk charge that saw the score tied at 23-, 24-, 25- and 26-all before Valentine smashed a kill and RC committed an errors.

CUW held at least a five-point lead for the majority of the fourth set and at one point scored 6-of-7 points to build an 18-10 lead before winning 25-15.

The Falcons again had to hold off a late Red Hawk scoring spree that took their four-point lead, 12-8, down to a point, 14-13, before Faber smashed the match-winning kill.

CUW returns to action on Friday and Saturday for four matches at the NACC/IIAC Invitational in Wisconsin Dells, Wis. The Falcons are scheduled to play Friday against Central College (4 p.m.) and Buena Vista University (8 p.m.) before competing on Saturday against Luther College (12 p.m.) and Simpson College (4 p.m.)