Dillon Hogan/Winonan
The Winona State University volleyball squad completed its second consecutive weekend of games on the road with trips to play Southwest Minnesota State Oct. 11 and Sioux Falls Oct. 12. They split their matches for the week, beginning with the loss to Southwest Minnesota State and recovering with the victory against Sioux Falls.
Beginning with Southwest, the Warriors found themselves in a tough situation against the number six ranked Mustangs.
The first game saw the Warriors falling behind early to a quick-starting Mustang offense behind 8 straight points to take a 10-2 lead and claim the victory by a score of 25-15. Again in the second game, the Warriors found themselves in a similar predicament.
Southwest Minnesota took an early lead en route to earning the victory in the second game by the same score of 25-15. The third and final game of the match had the same results as the first two, with Southwest Minnesota starting out fast and never easing up, taking the game 25-13 for a three game sweep and match victory.
A Warrior offense that struggled for the game, hitting .010 as a team, was led by Rachel Polland, whose seven kills and .143 hitting percentage were the top marks for the Warriors.
The Warriors dished out a total of 22 team assists with 9 coming from Kayla Uhlenhake and Kaley Jacobson posting 7. Defensively, Katie Froehle was the team leader with nine digs to lead the defense.
The conclusion to the Warriors road trip ended on a positive note with a victory over the University of Sioux Falls in five.
The Warriors fought a tough match to earn the victory 3-2. In the first match, a slow start doomed the Warriors and, despite a tough fight back, the Warriors fell to Sioux Falls 25-17.
In the second game, the Warriors bested Sioux Falls to take the 25-22 win and even the match at 1-1. Set three was a dominating performance for the Warriors, who got ahead early and never eased up on Sioux Falls to take the easy 25-7 win.
Despite the momentum being on the Warriors’ side, Sioux Falls fought back in the fourth game, winning their own lopsided game 25-12 to set up a fifth and decisive game.
The final game was a back-and-forth match that was tightly contested by both teams before the Warriors led 11-9 and never looked back en route to the 15-11 victory and match win.
The Warrior offense saw great performances and milestones set against Sioux Falls. Kylea Roeglin hit .304 with ten kills while Katie Froehle’s 11 kills were top for the team. Bouncing back from the 22-team assist performance against Southwest Minnesota, Elena Kruesel had 24 assists of her own while Uhlenhake had 14.
Senior Bekah Saugen’s nine kills in the match put her over the 900 career kill mark, where she now sits 11th all-time in the Winona State record books. In addition, she also became one of only 12 Warriors who were able to achieve 1,000 career digs.
On the defensive side, the Warriors were paced by Saugen’s 18 digs, Jamie Cairncross’s 12 and Froehle’s 10. Roeglin also accumulated eight blocks while Polland had seven of her own.
The Warriors, now 6-12 overall and 3-6 in the NSIC, next play a pair of matches at home against Augustana Friday, Oct. 18 and Wayne State Saturday, Oct. 19.
Contact Dillon at [email protected]
