RIPON, Wis. - MLC lost a pair of tightly contested matches at day two of the Ripon College Classic.
Concordia (Minn.) 3, MLC 1
The Knights won their first set of the season, but couldn't sustain the momentum against Concordia on Saturday afternoon.
MLC closed the first set on a 5-1 run to pull away in what was otherwise a tight set. Setter
Ella Walz was serving during that run. The Knights hit .229 as a team in the first set, led by
Kiara Humann's five kills. Additionally,
Kenzie Loberger,
Hannah Rodmyre and
Hannah Rimpel all hit .500 in the first set.
The Knights quickly cooled offensively over the next three sets, hitting .057 in the second, -.088 in the third and .111 in the fourth.
In the final set, MLC led 22-19 but could not close it out to force a fifth set.
Humann finished with 12 kills while Loberger and Rimpel, both freshmen, added seven each. Walz racked up 22 assists and
Anna Kieselhorst had 24 digs.
Marian (Wis.) 3, MLC 2
The Knights played their most complete match of the weekend in a tight 3-2 loss against Marian.
MLC was down 14-8 in the final set before rattling off six-straight points to tie it up. They then had three attempts at match point, but were not able to make the decisive play.
The team was down 2-0, including a close loss in set one 31-29, before fighting back to win the third set 25-22 and the fourth set 25-21.
Freshman
Kenzie Loberger continued her strong debut weekend with 12 kills and 23 digs, both of which led the team.
Elsa Brauer and
Kiara Humann were both in double figures as well. Brauer had 12 and Humann added 11. Humann hit a team-best .179.
Setters
Ella Walz and
Kourtney Zech had 20 and 19 assists, respectively.
