The Winona State Women’s volleyball team had a tough week on the road losing to Upper Iowa University, University of Minnesota Duluth, and St. Cloud State University.

On Tuesday, the Warriors fell 0-3 in the match against the Upper Iowa Penguins. Winona State only hit .094, which is the fourth time this year they have been under .100.

The Warriors had 21 attacking errors in this match, which is the most they have had in a three-set match since opening weekend of the season.

In the first set they lost 12-25, and continued to struggle throughout the match. The Warriors fought back from a 12-5 hole in set two and made it a one point game at 21-22. From there, they fought back and forth in points until the Peacocks held on for the win of 25-23. The Warriors were not able to keep up in the third set as they never got ahead of the Peacocks and lost 17-25.

Although the Warriors did not come out on top, sophomores Bre Maloney and Becca Pagel, as well as senior Taylor Goar, all recorded double-digits in digs in this match.

Friday, the Warriors were swept once again losing 0-3 against the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs.

Although the team has had its ups and downs this season, senior Maria Wrage had some positive comments about how the season is going.

“I think that the team is playing well considering we are such a young team,” Wrage said. “It always takes time for a team to get comfortable with one another, especially with so many incoming players.”

The Bulldog’s are ranked second in NSIC opponent hitting an average of .147 and kept the Warrior’s to just a .069 in this match.

The Warriors only recorded six kills in the first set and five kills

in the second. They found some rhythm as an offense in set three as they had 12 kills and a 33.3 hitting percentage. Although this was an improvement, Duluth had 17 kills and a 57.1 hitting percentage while also recording 59 digs for the match.

Goar was the leading attacker with five kills, while first-year Madison Rizner recorded three kills and a team-high five blocks.

Saturday, the Warriors were swept yet again 0-3 against St. Cloud State.

The Huskies recorded 75 digs in this match, while putting Winona in a four-game lose streak. This is the longest losing streak since 2015 and drops the Warrior’s record to 9-13 (6-8 NSIC).

The Warriors fought in the first set, but ended up falling at the end with a score of 24-26. St. Cloud went on to get the final two sets winning 25-22 in both.

Winona had a better hitting percentage in this match at 22.1 to St. Cloud’s 20.1.

Wrage had a stand out game matching her season-high 10 kills while hitting a .444 hitting percentage. Goar and Maloney had seven kills apiece as well. Maloney also had 30 assists.

“From here on out we have a lot of great competition ahead of us. Playing in this conference is the equivalent of playing all of the best teams in Division II. It pushes us to play our best volleyball which is really exciting for the team.” Wrage said.

Coming from this loss, the Warriors hope to keep their confidence up going into the two home games this weekend.

“Confidence is something that our team really tries to work on,” Wrage said. “We spend time every day in practice talking about the mental side of volleyball. It can truly be a game changing aspect.”

The Warriors will face University of Minnesota Crookston at 6 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 19 and Bemidji State University at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 20, both in Winona.