Viterbo Falls to Top Five Opponents, Winker Reaches 1,000 Kills

ST LOUIS, Mo. – The Viterbo University Women's Volleyball team lost to a pair of top five ranked teams at the Missouri Baptist Spartan Invitational in St Louis, Mo on Thursday. In the early game, Viterbo lost 0-3 to defending NAIA Champions Missouri Baptist University, who is ranked #1 in the NAIA Preseason Top 25 Coach's poll. In the late game, #5 Midland topped Viterbo 3-1. After today's games, the V-Hawks are 3-3, the Warriors are 5-1, and the Spartans are 6-1.

Kenzie Winker would put the V-Hawks on the board first against #1 Missouri Baptist with two kills, one from Grace Rohde and the other from Lauryn Sobasky. Winker then gave Viterbo their largest lead of the first set with a kill to go up 10-6. Kirsten van der Vleuten's back to back kills helped the Spartans claw back and tie the game at 12-12. After trading a few points, MBU took the lead with a 7-2 run to go up 21-16. Martina McGrath had a few late kills, but it wasn't enough as Missouri Baptist took the opening set 25-19.

The Spartans took control early in the second set, going up 4-0 before a Rohde kill put the V-Hawks on the board. Missouri Baptist led by as much as 10-5 before Vitebro started to come back. Jada Mitchell's kill, combined with Spartan errors closed the gap to 10-11. Then a 6-0 run, including a Rohde-Mariah Calkins block and Kenidi McCabe ace, put VU up 16-13. MBU would then go on their own run, scoring 10 points to Viterbo's one, putting the Spartans up 23-17, and setting up their 25-19 second set win.

In the third set, Missouri Baptist would get up early and wouldn't look back. A Maria Hanusik-Van der Vleuten block gave them a 13-4 lead, and Emma Lattimore's kill brought the score to 17-7. A Viterbo attacking error put MBU on game point 24-14. The V-Hawks put together a short rally, rattling off four straight points, but it came too late, and Missouri Baptist claimed the 25-18 victory.

Winker led all players win 12 kills while hitting .171 and Rohde added eight kills, hitting .250. Sobasky led the V-Hawks with 17 assists and added eight digs, just behind Adrianna Reinhart's nine. Clakins had four block assists, and Marissa Kleman had three.

Sara Klunder led MBU with 10 kills and six block assists. Shannon McLain had a game-high 27 assists, while Hanusik led with 15 digs.

Against #5 Midland (Neb.), the V-Hawks would take an early 7-3 lead on a Mitchell kill. The Warriors would tie up the game at 11-11, but a McGrath kill and MU error put Viterbo back up 16-13. A 5-1 run put Midland back up 18-17, and though Rohde tied the game at 18, Brooke Fredrickson's late kills would secure the 25-22 win for Midland.

The second set started off back and forth, with the V-Hawks being down 8-10, before a 7-1 run capped by a McGrath kill put them up 15-11. A McGrath-Mitchell block put Viterbo up 18-12, but the Warriors went on their own 7-1 run, tying the game at 19-19. The teams alternated points, and Sobasky set up Winker for a kill to tie the game at 24-24. This would mark Winker's 1000^th career kill, making her the 16^th member of Viterbo's 1000-kill club. VU would then win the set 27-25 on a Rohde kill.

Winker would start the third set hot as well, with four kills in the first eight volleys. However, after tying the game at 10-10 Midland would start to pull away, going up 19-13 after three consecutive Lauren Williams' kills. Cailie Kowal set up Mitchell for a pair of kills, but it wasn't enough as MU took the third set 25-17.

The Warriors would score the first four point of the fourth set, and never relinquish the lead. Kowal's ace and a Winker-Mitchell block brought the score to 6-7, but five straight Midland points gave the, back some breathing room. After a Rohde kill, the Warriors went on another run, finding themselves up 21-11. Kleman ended the run, but Midland would take the set and the game a few points later, 25-14.

Winker led all players and recorded a career high 20 kills while hitting .229 percent. Rohde added 10 more kills. Sobasky had 27 assists and seven digs while Cowal added 17 and five. Reinhart recorded 22 digs and McCabe had 13. Mitchell led the game with six block assists, and Rohde and McGrath each contributed three.

Taliyah Flores (.273), Williams (.312), and Fredrickson (.250) each had 15 kills in the game and Abbey Ringler (.364) had 10 of her own. Hope Leimbach had 57 of the team's 60 assists. Delanie Vallinch racked up 25 digs, and   Lauryn Samuelson had one solo block with three block assists.

The V-Hawks return to action on Friday, taking on Lindsey Wilson College (Ky.), who is receiving votes, in their final game at the Spartan Invitational.