Pride snap skid with home sweep over Graceland
DUBUQUE, Iowa - In the midst of an eight-match losing streak, the Clarke University women's volleyball team bounced off the mat with a strong 3-0 home victory over Graceland University on Friday night.
The Pride limited mistakes and had a three-player attack on their way to 25-23, 25-22, and 25-21 behind set hitting percentages of .140 or higher to finish at .194 as a team compared to .102 for GU.
An early lead in the first set for CU nearly turned into a Yellowjacket come back as they were down as many as six points at 16-10 in favor of the Pride before inching back then going on a 4-0 run down 23-19 to tie the set at 23-23, forcing a Clarke timeout.
A Maya Watters kill at the end of a rally then Keely Colyer finishing off a free ball with the set point kill would carry Clarke into the first set win as Colyer and Watters were two-thirds of that three-pronged attack with Watters leading the match in kills with 16 while providing a .343 hitting percentage and Colyer added eight kills and a block while the third member of that trio, senior Rachel Haubert had a 10-kill, 15-dig double-double with a .318 hitting percentage on 22 swings.
Both teams would essentially trade points early in the second before the Yellowjackets climbed out to a slim two-point lead that lasted all the way to 18-16 before the Pride would go on a run behind the serve of Haubert, scoring six-straight points with Colyer and Kelsey NeCollins each producing two of the points to help pull it to a 22-18 CU lead before they would put it away at 25-22.
Momentum would finally carry over from one set to another as the start of the third was all Clarke as they opened to a 4-0 lead and would add another 4-0 run to pull out to 8-1 with Watters producing four kills of the eight CU points scored during that stretch.
Graceland would return the favor to even take a brief, one-point lead at 14-13 before a 6-1 stretch from Clarke gave them back the lead at 19-15 that wouldn't get any closer than two points from that point on.
Haubert's 15 digs tied the team-high, tying with libero Rylie Bohanan and setter Kortney Harms as Harms finished with 18 assists to lead CU for her 11th double-double or better of the season while Mia Jaeger produced 16 assists and seven digs as the setter opposite of Harms' rotation.
Clarke women's volleyball will wrap up the weekend homestand with their Senior Day match on Saturday afternoon when they host Peru State College for a 2:00 p.m. CT first serve in the Kehl Center.