DE PERE – St. Norbert College rolled to a pair of 3-0 wins, topping Milwaukee School of Engineering in a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference match and then defeating Ripon College at Mulva Family Fitness and Sports Center.
The Green Knights (15-12, 8-1 NACC) tripped MSOE 25-15, 25-17, 25-17 before routing their former Midwest Conference rival Ripon 25-5, 25-16, 27-25. The win over MSOE moved the Green Knights a half-game in front of four teams at 7-1 in the NACC standings for first place.
Against MSOE, St. Norbert held an 8-7 lead in Set 1 before going on a 10-3 run to take an 18-10 lead en route to a 1-0 advantage. The Green Knights led 6-4 in Set 2 before an 8-0 run, fueled by three
Alyssa Mills kills, for a 14-4 lead. St. Norbert eventually led 18-6 before settling on a 25-17 win and a 2-0 lead. St. Norbert led 10-8 in the third stanza and then went on a 6-2 run to get some breathing room at 16-10. The Raiders would get to within two points twice but the Green Knights slowly pulled away to lock up the match.
St. Norbert hit a lusty .362, with 44 kills and 10 errors in 94 attempts. Mills finished with 16 kills against two errors in 31 attempts.
Anna Kudick had nine kills with one error in 15 swings.
Alli Clark and
Maleigha Kovalaske had five kills apiece.
Heidi Colburn had 32 assists. Colburn,
Maddie Kitowski and
Lauren Borchardt had two service aces each.
Kara Sowinski (pictured) had a match-high 14 digs, with Kovalaske, Colburn and
Andrianna Volz posting six each.
Mari Szews totaled five blocks, including three solos. Mills had three blocks and Kudick and Clark turned away two swings each.
Against Ripon, the Green Knights wasted little time taking the mystery out of Set 1, taking leads of 8-1 and 19-2. Szews had three kills and two blocks during St. Norbert's 10-0 run. The Green Knights led 12-10 in Set 2 before going on an 8-0 run, forcing four Ripon attacking errors. The third set saw Ripon take a 16-6 lead before St. Norbert began to claw back. The Green Knights trailed 21-16 before rattling off an 8-0 service run from
Claire Dailey, with a pair of Kovalaske kills putting them up 22-21. A Dailey ace sent St. Norbert to match point at 24-21, but the Red Hawks scored four straight points to go up 25-24. The Green Knights dug in one last time, with a Kovalaske kill, a Colburn ace and a block from Kovalaske and
Clare Williams sealing the win.
St. Norbert hit .243 for the match, with all 19 players contributing to a 39-kill performance against 12 errors in 111 attempts.
Casey Vaughan had a match-high 13 kills, while Mills added eight in just two sets. Colburn had 31 assists. Borchardt had two aces.
Claire Leynse finished with 13 digs, while Borchardt added 11. Szews and Williams had three blocks apiece.
