Martin Luther College split in the tournament in Beloit, Wisconsin, on Friday and Saturday, winning their first match (25-19, 25-12, 25-16) against the Rockford Regents, but losing to the Simpson Storm in four (22-25, 27-25, 21-25, 18-25) on Friday. On Saturday the Knights beat the Beloit Buccaneers (16-25, 25- 18, 25-19, 30-28), but fell short to the Wartburg Knights (16-25, 13-25, 9-25).

Rockford v. MLC

MLC took control of the match from the start against the Regents. With a back-and-forth battle at the start, the Knights pulled to a comfortable lead in the first set after a kill by Rhianna Hunter. Hunter led the Knights with a hitting average of .750 in the set. The Knights won their first set with a 6-point gap of 25-19.

Only extending that gap into the second set, but not without working for it. Once again, there was a back-and-forth battle to begin the set, but the Knights took control and kept the lead after a service ace by Grace Kieselhorst. The Knight won this set with an impressive gap of 13.

Simpson v. MLC

MLC took a set from Simpson but fell short with a 3-1 defeat in their second match on Friday. After losing 25-22, the Knights came back in the second set in a close battle going into extra points. The Knights won the second set by two with a score of 27-25. The Storm took control from there and won the following two sets to end the match.

Beloit v. MLC

The Knights once again started their morning off on the right foot by defeating the Buccaneers, but not without a fight, taking them to four sets. The Knights shook off a bad opening loss in the first set with a score of 16-25, but came back in the second set to win 25-18, therefore tying the match at one.  The Knights never looked back from there as they finished the match with a 25-19 win and a tough but sweet victory of 30-28.

The Knights' leaders for the match were Grace Kieselhorst with 15 kills and four service aces, Kylie Wolf with 22 assists, and Naomi Bridgeman with 16 digs.

Wartburg v. MLC

The Knights ended the tournament with a defeat to the Wartburg Knights with a 0-3 loss.  With an attack by set percentage of 37%, the Knights fell to Wartburg with a score of 16-25.  Hannah Willems led MLC with a reception average of .889, and Grace Kieselhorst had three digs in the match. The Knights lost that set with a score of 13-25.  The Wartburg Knights closed the match with a score of 25-9. MLC had an impressive reception average of .875, with Chloe Mattek with a reception percentage of 1.000 and Madelinn Romsdahl with .875. 

MLC has a record of 2-3 on the season. The Knights are back in action at home on Wednesday, September 7, at 7 p.m against Macalester.