Pride battle but fall 3-0 to Missouri Valley

DUBUQUE, Iowa - Clarke University women's volleyball put up plenty of fight but weren't able to come away with positive tangible results as they fell in straight sets 3-0 to Missouri Valley College on Saturday evening.

Playing a tight first set to 25-22, the Vikings earned a 2-0 lead with a strong second set that went 25-18 after they gained as much as an 18-10 lead before CU pulled it back to 19-17 but then MVC pulled away with six of the final seven points. In the third set, the Pride had a 24-20 lead to extend the match to a fourth set with one more point but the Vikings battled back, forcing extra points and eventually taking the third and final set 27-25.

CU continued to struggle on the attack, finishing with 26 total errors on 126 attacks for a .070 hitting percentage compaired to Missouri Valley's .193 hitting percentage where they had 19 errors, 11 of which came in the third set.

The match leader in kills was MVC's Natalia Ospino as she ended the match with 13 kills on 19 attacks from the middle with just one error for a .632 hitting percentage. 

For the Pride, Jessica Schaad was once again the team leader in kills as she finished with 12 with Abigail Smith ending the match with eight kills while Victoria Patnaude and Maddy Melvin both finished with seven kills.

Clarke women's volleyball will host one more home match part of this three-match homestand Mount Mercy University in the Kehl Center next Tuesday for a 7:00 p.m. CT start on Sept. 27.