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Pride fall in return home to Dordt 3-0

Pride fall in return home to Dordt 3-0
Box Score
February 27, 2026

DUBUQUE, Iowa - Playing their first home match at the Kehl Center since Feb. 10, the Clarke University men's volleyball team fell in straight sets to Dordt University on Friday night by set scores of 25-18, 25-18, and 25-19.

The Pride trailed Dordt in kills by just two in each set, but it was the points given back to the Defenders that did in CU as the home team finished with a total of 19 attacking errors to just eight from Dordt over three sets, including a first set in which DU had no errors with 15 kills for a .625 hitting percentage in the set.

That trend continued to a lesser extent in the second and third sets for DU to finish the match at a .392 hitting percentage to Clarke's .154 with Dordt's Cade Smith leading the charge for the visiting team with a match-high 11 kills with no attacking errors on 17 swings for a .647 hitting percentage, while also adding three block assists and six digs defensively.

That first set never really saw the Defenders go on a significant run to build their lead, rather just chipping away to mostly score two points for every one Clarke point, but runs told the stories in the second and third with a 6-0 in the second took the set from 12-11 to 18-11 before the Pride held an early lead in the third, only for a 5-0 run then a later 4-0 run put Dordt from down 6-3 to up 14-9, never looking back to close out the match.

For Clarke, freshmen Micah Dancy and Dustin Kuner along with sophomore Trey Vescoso finished with the most productive offensive performances as Dancy led the way with eight kills and just one error on 14 attempts for a .500 hitting percentage while Vescoso had seven kills and Kuner added five with setter Benjamin Reiser finishing with 25 assists and libero Jason Romero producing seven digs, each leading the team in those stats.

Pride men's volleyball will remain at home on Saturday, Feb. 28 to host a tri-match, starting with another Heart matchup against Morningside University at 1:00 p.m. CT before ending the weekend with a non-conference matchup against familiar foe St. Ambrose University at 5:30 p.m. CT in the Kehl Center.