Pride fall in four sets to Graceland after marathon first set win

DUBUQUE, Iowa - With a little over a week left in the 2022 regular season, the Clarke University women's volleyball team fell to Graceland University 3-1 at the Kehl Center on Friday night.

The Pride were able to pull off a thrilling 35-33 win in the opening set but Graceland pulled away in both the second and third sets to win 25-10 and 25-17 before another extra points set in the fourth went the way of the Yellowjackets to give GU the win at 26-24 in the fourth.

Graceland was led by a 20-kill performance from Arissa Carpenter as she only committed eight attacking errors in 38 swings to finish with a .308 hitting percentage on the night. Sierra Kauweloa added 11 kills and a .194 hitting percentage as both setters for the Yellowjackets finished with over 20 assists as Megan Janok had 27 assists with eight kills and eight digs while Addison Demesko finished with 21 assists and seven digs.

For Clarke, Rachel Haubert led the way in both total kills (12) and hitting percentage (.286) on the attacking side as she came one dig shy of a double-double while adding a block assist and an ace for 13.5 points in the match. Abigail Smith led the team in the points scored category with 15.5 points as she had eight kills, five aces, and five block assists for 15.5 points from the right side of the formation.

Madison Blohm had a team-high 20 assists from her setter position, splitting the rotation with Maddy Melvin who set from the front row for 14 assists, five kills, three digs, and three block assists.

Clarke women's volleyball will have one more home match that will take place this Saturday afternoon as the Pride will celebrate Senior Day at the Kehl Center for a 2:00 p.m. CT start against Peru State College.