Dubuque, Iowa – The Macalester College Volleyball team continued their Loras tournament play by facing off against Loras College and North Central College (Ill.) in a doubleheader on Saturday, Sept. 19. In game one, the Scots fought their way to a win in a five-set game of the year contender 31-29, 23-25, 24-26, 25-15 and 15-10
, but dropped a tough second game, losing in straight sets 23-25, 18-25 and 21-25.
In game one, Mac started their first set trailing with early five-point deficit at 8-3 with kills by junior outside hitter
Adonia Anene (North Hollywood, Calif./The Buckley School) adding Macalester's first kill of the match. The Scots continued trading blow for blow with the Duhawks, with kills from first-year outside hitter
Channing Smith (River Forest, Ill./Oak Park River Forest), Anene and
Maxine Holmes (San Francisco, Calif./Lick-Wilmerding) and with that early deficit, it looked grim for the Scots with a 23-17 deficit late in the first set. However, Macalester did not look back, rallying from a six-point deficit and taking the set 31-29 after a grueling battle. The first set comeback was made possible by kills from Anene, first year middle blocker
Kyle Speta, sophomore middle blocker
Danielle Oji and first year middle blocker
Siennah Calkins.
The Scots fought hard in the second set, with a 10-10 tie leading into a 19-19 tie, but the Scots could not hold on to the end, ending a tight game 23-25. In the second, Smith logged 4 kills, and Anene, Calkins, Spera, Holmes and Oji all logged 2 respectively.
Mac fought hard in another close set that began tied 10-10 once again, with kills from Calkins, Oji, Anene and smith, and a service ace from junior libero
Lizzie Joo (San Jose, Calif./Valley Christian). The Scots continued trading blows during the set, with a 20-20 tie coming soon after in the set. However, another close set ended up in a narrow loss, with a 24-26 putting the Scots in a 1-2 deficit after the third.
The volleyball team continued playing with grit, as their fourth set opening in another early 10-10 tie, with kills from Holmes, Anene, Calkins, first-year
Lydia Koshuta (Appleton, Wis./Appleton) and Oji. The Scots clearly, did not want another tie, as they went on a 15-4 run to close out the fourth set in a 25-15 win. Smith, Calkins, Anene and Speta all contributed to the run with kills of their own.
With momentum for the Scots behind their backs, they clearly wanted the fifth set, but it wouldn't be easy. Mac again came out trading blow for blow with Loras, resulting in a 7-7 tie with kills from Anene and Calkins. Despite the grueling set so far, Smith, Oji and Speta decided to finally put the game away, with two kills from Oji and one from Anene and Speta, the Scots put the set away with a 15-10, handing the Duhawks a five-set loss.
Smith led the team with 20 kills, followed by Calkins with 15 and Anene with 14. Koshuta led the team with 27 assists, followed by Morrow with 15. Joo led the team in digs with 17, followed by Koshuta with 15 and Smith with 13.
The Scots went into game two against North Central (Ill.) off a five-set win against Loras College by trailing early 12-8 in the first set. Macalester kept battling hard, tying the game 22-22 late, but could not finish the job, as North Central took set-one 25-23. Smith and Speta both added 4 kills in the first set, with Koshuta and Morrow both tallying 7 assists despite the loss.
Set two looked promising for the Scots, with an early 7-4 lead with kills from Oji, Speta and Smith. However, North Central turned on the jets by going on a 21-11 run and closed the door on the Scots in the second set 25-18.
Set three sounded promising, as Macalester just came back in game one of the doubleheaders against Loras College, but they learned it wasn't the same team, with North Central again taking a 7-4 Macalester lead and turning into a 25-21 win, handing the Scots a tough loss. In this third set, Anene led with four kills, followed by Oji with three. Morrow again led the set in assists for Mac with 8.
Overall, the Scots had a very distributed game, with more than five kills coming from Smith, Anene, Calkins and Speta. Morrow led the team in assists with 20, followed by Koshuta with 14. Defensive specialist and first-year
Morgan Stone led the team with 11 digs, followed by Joo with 10.
Next for the Scots: Macalester (5-7) will start MIAC conference play by hosting the Hamline University Pipers on Thursday, Sept. 24 at the Leonard Center.
