Dillon Hogan/Winonan
With last week’s upset performance against Wayne State University the Winona State University volleyball team faced another tough week with three matches in five days. The Warriors began the week with a home game against Upper Iowa University Tuesday, Oct. 22, and followed with games against Northern State and MSU Moorhead, both of which were away.
Starting off the week with a game against Upper Iowa, the Warriors used strong performances by senior trio Katie Froehle, Elnea Kruesel and Bekah Saugen to earn the 3-1 victory Tuesday.
The first game of the match saw the Warriors taking the early lead; the Peacocks then fought back to take the lead from the Warriors. A close game throughout and tied at 22, the Warriors got clutch kills from Froehle and Saugen to give the Warriors the 25-22 victory.
The second game of the match was much smoother for the Warriors, who were able to open the game with a 7-1 lead and never looked back on the way to winning 25-22, taking the 2-0 lead.
The third game of the match was a back-and-forth affair for both teams, with the Peacocks taking advantage of a late rally to clinch the game 25-20.
In the fourth and final game the Warriors used a team .341 hitting percentage to close out the set 25-20 for the 3-1 victory over the Peacocks. Fresh off her performance as last week’s NSIC Defensive Player of the Week award, Saugen had another solid performance recording 24 digs, 17 kills and a .325 hitting percentage.
Froehle and Kruesel joined Saugen with double-doubles. Froehle added 18 digs and 13 kills while Kruesel recorded 24 assists and 12 digs.
Facing another ranked opponent, this time No. 25 ranked Northern State, the Warriors fell in a three game sweep Friday, Oct. 25.
A Warrior upset looked imminent from the start as the Warriors found themselves leading the Wolves 23-19 in the first game only to see their lead slip before they eventually lost 26-24.
Another back-and-forth match was the story in the second game as well. Neither team had more than a two-point lead throughout the entire game before Northern State racked up four straight points and never relinquished the lead to win 25-22.
Again in the third game the Warriors had a lead, this time a four-point lead at 18-14, but after a comeback by Northern State the game was tied at 22. Fighting off elimination, the Warriors put off the match point efforts of the Wolves until the game ultimately ended with a Northern State 26-24 win.
Saugen recorded her third straight double-double for the Warriors with a 12 kills and 17 dig performance in the loss. Leading the Warriors in hitting percentage was Kylea Roeglin, with a .316 hitting percentage. Defensively, Saugen and Leah Perri were the leaders for the Warriors who each had double-digit digs with 17 and 13 respectively.
The final game of the Warriors’ week was another away game against MSU Moorhead on Saturday, Oct. 26, a contest the Warriors would lose by a three game sweep.
In the first game, the Warriors started off slow, and Moorhead took advantage hosting as much as a nine point lead at one point en route to the 25-17 win. The Warriors hit .023 in the first game of the match.
A much closer game in set two resulted in another Warriors loss by a score of 25-21. The third and final game resulted in a 25-21 victory for the Dragons and gave the Warriors their second straight loss for the week. Froehle and Saugen each recorded double-doubles again for the Warriors. Froehle also led the team in hitting percentage at .195.
The Warriors now finds themselves 8-15 overall and 5-9 in the NSIC. The Warriors have their next games at home, with matches against the University of Mary on Friday, Nov. 1 and Minot State on Saturday, Nov. 2.
Contact Dillon at [email protected]
