The Warhawks women’s volleyball team split four matches at the Midwest Invitational in Holland, MI. The ’Hawks split their tournament games, winning two and losing two.
“We competed well,” head coach Stacy Boudreau said. “We had a disappointing loss on Tuesday. It was a conference loss, and we just progressively got better. We bounced back with a good win against Elmhurst on Wednesday, our second win against them, and they are ranked eighth in the nation.”
At the tournament, they played Dominican University, Hope College, Calvin College, and Wisconsin Lutheran College. Their first match at the Hope
Invitational was against Dominican University. Sophomore Kelsey Nobilio set the Warhawk record for digs in a match with 40 in the 3-1 win (20-25, 25-19. 25-21, 25-21) over.
“I wouldn’t have been able to do it (break the record) if it weren’t for the help of the team,” Nobilio said. “They helped me play the way that I did.”
In that match, the Warhawks recorded 65 kills. Junior Leanna Lillge led the ’Hawks with 22 kills. Junior Kristen Ruchti contributed 12, while fellow junior Ariel Johnson added 10.
The Warhawks lost their next match to D3volleyball.com fifth ranked Hope College 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-15). Hope posted 5 more kills than the ’Hawks in the match 39 kills to 34.
Junior Ariel Johnson led the ‘Hawks with nine kills in the match. Freshman Brittany Langley contributed seven kills.
“We played Hope College, who was No. 5 in the nation. We were right there with them, but we just couldn’t finish the set,” said Coach Stacy Boudreau.
On the second day of the invite, the Warhawks played two matches. They lost to Calvin College 3-1 (19-25, 25-22, 29-27, 25-17). Calvin was the
D3volleyball.com second ranked team in the nation.
“It was good to see us play well against the number 2 and number 4 teams in the country,” Boudreau said.
In the match against Calvin College, Junior Leanne Lillge led the ’Hawks with 18 kills and she also added 10 digs. Junior Kirsten Ruchti also had double-figure kills with 11 and added two assist blocks. Kim Frei added 46 assists for the ’Hawks.
In the second match of the day, the Warhawks played Wisconsin Lutheran. They closed out the invite with a 3-0 sweep (25-16, 25-15, 25-22).
Lillge led the ‘Hawks with 10 kills. Junior Heidi Buss led the way in the assist category for the ’Hawks with 20 assists.
“I think we did really well. There is still room to improve,” Lillge said. “We obviously could have beaten some really good teams, but overall I think we did well. “
The Warhawks will host their final invite of the season on Oct. 19 and Oct. 20. They face UW-River Falls and Illinois Wesleyan at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Friday and face Edgewood College at 10 a.m. Saturday.
