V-Hawks and Bruins Share NSAA Title

BELLEVUE, Neb – The Viterbo University Women's Volleyball team, ranked #7 in the most recent NAIA Top 25 Coaches Poll, fell 3-1 (16-25, 25-22, 17-25, 15-25 )to #16 Bellevue University (Neb.) in their regular season finale on Saturday afternoon. The V-Hawks drop to 26-7 (13-1 NSAA), while the Bruins improve to 25-6 (13-1 NSAA). The only conference loss for both teams came on the road at the other, so the teams will share the North Star Athletic Association crown.

Bellevue would take control of the opening set quickly, getting up 10-3 before Kenzie Winker's solo block sparked a run for the V-Hawks that included multiple Grace Rohde kills and an Adrianna Reinhart ace to bring the score to 12-14. The Bruins defense then stepped up, and Viterbo would only score four more points in the set on Bellevue errors and kills from Winker and Martina McGrath.

Jada Mitchell's kills, and a Marissa Kleman-assisted block, helped the V-Hawks start the second set up 9-4. Bellevue responded with a 10-1 run, ended by Rohde's kill, and Winker's kills fueled a Viterbo run that gave the V-Hawks a 21-19 lead. The Bruins managed to tie the game at 21-21, but errors combined with Rohde's kill and Maddie Connor's ace gave Viterbo the 25-22 set win.

Kenidi McCabe, McGrath, and Winker recorded kills early in the third set for Viterbo, but neither team would manage much of a lead. Mariah Calkins and Winker connected for a block, followed by a Cailie Cowal ace and Winker kill to put Viterbo up 15-14, but Bellevue scored nine straight points, only interrupted by a pair of errors, and took the set 25-17.

The fourth set began with kills from Kelman and Winker, leaving the score at 6-7 before the Bruins mounted an 11-1 run. Calkins ended the barrage, and while Mia Quist and Grace Rohde recorded late kills, Viterbo's rally ended quickly and Bellevue took the set 25-15 for the 3-1 win.

Winker and Mitchell each had nine kills to lead the V-Hawks, Lauryn Sobasky had a team-high 17 assists while Kowal added 14, Reinhart led all players with 25 digs, and Mitchell put up five blocks.

Allie Kerns had a game-high 14 kills for the Bruins to go with 19 digs, Olivia Galas had 34 assists, and Nicole Meyer recorded eight blocks.

Viterbo earned the top seed in the NSAA conference tournament over Bellevue by virtue of winning more sets in their head-to-head matchups. They will take on the winner of the Mayville State-Valley City State game on Friday, November 11 in Watertown, S.D.