Pride regular season comes to an end in 3-1 loss at Mount Mercy

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - In a rematch from just over a month prior, the Clarke University women's volleyball team would drop their 2024 regular season finale 3-1 on the road at Mount Mercy University on Tuesday night.

The Pride would earn a first set victory by a score of 25-20 behind their match-high 16 kills in the set but MMU would come back to earn 25-22, 25-4, and 25-13 wins in the following sets to run away with the comeback victory.

In an overwhelming third set, the score would be 8-4 in favor of the Mustangs early as they would go on to score each of the following 17 points on the serve of Brooke Ellyson as she would record six aces, Mary Kate Bendlage would produce five kills for points, and six Clarke errors would produce all of the points during that 17-0 run.

Bendlage produced a dominant performance for Mount Mercy, leading all players in the match with 21 kills on 55 attempts for a .236 hitting percentage while also producing 12 digs for a double-double as Jenna Brown was the only other Mustang over 10 kills as she had 11.

Clarke also had two players with double digit kills as Maya Watters had team-highs at a .312 hitting percentage and 14 kills while Rachel Haubert added 12 kills and 14 digs for her sixth double-double in the final seven matches of the season.

Also finishing with a double-double for CU was setter Mia Jaeger as she had 18 assists and 11 digs with Ariana Rodriguez (12) and Rylie Bohanan (19) also finishing with digs in double figures and Regan McEvoy was a dig away from a double-double of her own with 14 assists and nine digs while also producing three service aces.

Clarke women's volleyball finishes the 2024 season with a 12-20 overall record and a 3-15 record in the Heart of America Athletic Conference to finish in sixth place in the Heart North Division, out of Heart Tournament contention.