V-Hawks Start Season With a Pair of Sweeps

FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Viterbo University Women's Volleyball team, ranked #7 in the NAIA Top 25 Preseason Coaches Poll, started their 2023 season with a pair of wins at the Saint Francis University (Ind.) Onset Invitational on Friday. The V-Hawks topped #12 Taylor University (Ind.) 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-16) in their first game, followed by a 3-0 (25-13, 25-19, 25-16) sweep of Oakland City University (Ind.). Viterbo now sits at 2-0, the Trojans are 1-1, and the Mighty Oaks 1-3.

Maddie Connor would score the first point of the season with a service ace in the opening set, and Cailie Kowal added two more early aces to go up 7-4. Taylor would close the gap to just 9-8 before Viterbo rattled off an 8-0 run with the help of Jada Mitchell's kill and solo block. While the Trojans did bring it back within two, Grace Rohde helped end the set with a kill and a Mitchell-assisted block, 25-22.

TU would take the early lead in the second set, building a 3-8 lead behind multiple Sarah Scott kills, a service error and a Kinzie Winker kill gave momentum back to the V-Hawks, and Martina McGrath's kill brought the score to 7-8. Connor put down a kill to even the score at 10-10, and her ace in tandem with Mitchell's kills put VU up 19-13. Rohde produced more late-set kills to give the V-Hawks another win, 25-20.

Grace Peyron and McGrath would team up for an early block, followed by a Winker kill to help Viterbo build a 6-3 lead, and attacking errors from the Trojans helped the V-Hawks stay ahead. Rohde's kill sparked another run that featured more McGrath and Winker's kills, as well as another block for Mitchell and Peyron, leading to the 25-16 win.

Rodhe led all players with 10 kills, while Mitchell was just behind her with nine on .667 hitting. Connor had a game and career high 29 kills, and Rodhe led the V-Hawks with eight digs.

Gracie Conway had eight kills for the Trojans, Lindsay Springer had 28 assists, and McKaylah Flagle had a game-high 11 digs.

McGrath and Peyron combined for two more blocks, as well as a kill each to help the V-Hawks to an early 7-1 lead in the opening set against Oakland City. Winker and Mitchell added to the lead, and after a third McGrath-Peyron block, the V-Hawks led 17-10. Mia Quist would record an ace, and Rohde put down two more kills leading to an OCU error for the 25-13 win.

The Oaks built a 3-7 lead in the second, but Marissa Kleman and Sadie Treptow each had kills and connected for a block to chip away until McGrath's kill from Elodie Danet tied the match at 16-16. Connor had consecutive late aces amidst a 5-0 run for the V-Hawks, and Rodhe ended it with a kill, 25-19.

Winker had three kills early in the third set, while Casey Frankland's ace put VU up 8-4. More errors by the Oaks kept Viterbo in the lead, as well as an ace form Kenidi McCabe, until a Connor-Mitchell block brought the score to 19-13. Riley Angst had one final ace for the V-Hawks before Oakland City ended the match 25-16 with an error.

Rohde posted a double-double with a game high 12 kills and team-high 10 digs. Connor had 24 assists, and McCabe matched Rohde with 10 digs of her own. McGrath had five block assists.

Chloee Thomas led the Oaks with six kills, and Mariana Anastasiadi had 20 assists with a game-high 11 digs.

The V-Hawks finish the Onset Tournament on Saturday with matches against #21 Marian (Ind.) and Grace College (Ind.).