Pride sweep Culver-Stockton in regular season finale

CANTON, Mo. – Behind the duo of Amber Cooksley (SR/Dubuque, Iowa) and Jaida Kroning (SR/Janesville, Wis.), the Clarke Pride women's volleyball team swept Culver-Stockton, 25-20, 25-21, 25-13 on Tuesday night.

Cooksley led all hitters with 17 kills while Kroning followed with 11 kills and a .476 hitting percentage.

Maddy Melvin (SR/Dixon, Ill.) added in eight kills and four blocks, while Brittney Mundell (FR/Ashton, Ill.) led the team with a .667 hitting percentage.

As a team, the Pride (15-16, 10-8) hit .287 with 46 kills and 43 assists, while holding Culver-Stockton to a .099 hitting percentage. Cora Vyhnanek (JR/Colchester, Ill.) and Alana Cooksley (SR/Dubuque, Iowa) led the way with 18 assists, each.

The first set got off to a 5-5 start for the two programs before Clarke jumped out to a 12-5 lead after kills from two aces from Rachel Haubert (FR/Plainfield, Ill.) and kills from Mundell, Kroning and Garza. The Wildcats (9-21, 5-14) got within two at 12-10 before going toe-to-toe with the Pride up to the score of 18-18. Clarke closed out the set with a 7-1 run capped off by a kill from Kroning.

The second set saw the Wildcats jump out to an early 9-4 lead before the Pride fought their way back into a 8-9 deficit with a kill from Amber Cooksley and three errors by Culver-Stockton.  The Pride saw their first lead of the set come at the 21-20 mark after a bad set by CSU. Clarke closed out the set with a 4-1 scoring run.

The Pride dominated the attack in the final set, finishing with a .433 to .100 hitting percentage advantage to win it 25-13.

Clarke will now look forward to the Heart Tournament, set to begin play this Saturday. With other matches still finishing, first round matchups are still to be determined.