Pride fall in four sets to Eagles in return home
DUBUQUE, Iowa - Playing their first match inside of the Kehl Center for the first time since Sept. 20, the Clarke Unviersity women's volleyball team dropped a 3-1 match to Central Methodist University on Friday night.
The Pride played a strong first set to pull away to a 25-18 win in the opening frame where they finished with nine kills, a .192 hitting percentage, and four total blocks for almost half of CMU's nine attacking errors in the set while the Eagles also produced four service errors compared to three for CU with Clarke also producing three aces to hold the points scored advantage at 16-11 in the first.
Central Methodist would limit their mistakes more in the next three sets to win the second 25-16, the third 25-13, and fourth 25-21 where they would produce only 12 attacking errors in those three sets combined with Clarke only adding four more total blocks combined in the final three sets with hitting percentages of -.097 and .000 in the second and third before improving the attack in the fourth at a .267.
Getting her first start in her young career, freshman setter Jaxcyn Berntgen led the Pride with a career-high 21 assists while adding six digs as she fed junior Kortney Harms early and often as Harms had three kills in the opening set win and finished with a team-high 12 kills in the match with a .222 hitting percentage, while adding 13 assists for a double-double.
Sophomore middle blocker Kaelyn Minich was in on six of the team's eight total blocks in the match with two solo blocks and four block assists while producing six kills on 11 swings while junior libero Jayden Knox was the match's leader in digs with 14.
The Eagles finished with three players in double digits for kills led by Martina Gonzato's 14 kills on 30 attempts for a .333 hitting percentage with Joana Milho and Luciana Araujo both finishing at 11 kills, primarily fromt he 46 combined assists from Mariah Bostic-Jones and Ramsey Spinks who had 24 and 22 assists respectively.
Clarke women's volleyball will be back in the Kehl Center on Saturday afternoon, Oct. 4 when they host Park University for a 2:00 p.m. CT scheduled first serve between the Pride and the Pirates.