DE PERE - St. Norbert College opened its own Chick-fil-A Invitational with a pair of losses at Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center.
The Green Knights opened with a 3-2 setback to St. Mary's (Minn.) University (23-25, 25-21, 25-23, 16-25, 15-6) and then dropped a 3-0 decision to Carthage College (25-20, 25-16, 25-21).
Against St. Mary's, the Green Knights took an early 1-0 lead winning a set that featured 14 ties. St. Norbert scored two points to take a 23-21 lead before the Cardinals tied it 23-23. A kill by
Kayden Lamon and a service ace from
Emily Kitowski put the Green Knights up 1-0. St. Norbert fell behind 18-9 in Set 2 before rallying to within 24-21 before falling even at 1-1. St. Mary's led the entire third set but the Green Knights did forge a 23-23 tie before the Cardinals again scored the final two points for a 2-1 edge.
St. Norbert never trailed in the fourth set, building an 18-10 lead en route to a 2-2 tie. The Green Knights held a 5-3 lead in Set 5 before the Cardinals closed out the match on a 12-1 run.
The Green Knights hit .140, with 50 kills against 26 errors in 171 attempts.
Alli Clark (pictured) had 11 kills, while
Ashlynn Vande Voort had 10 and
Anna Kudick nine.
Flynn Puttin had 19 assists, while
Keira Ashenfelter added 16. Ashenfelter and Kitowski had two service aces apiece.
Elaina Butz finished with 18 digs, with Ashenfelter adding 11.
Kirsten Klatt finished with two blocks.
Against Carthage, the Green Knights had their last tie in Set 1 at 15-15 and hung around to trail 21-20 before the Firebirds went on a 4-0 run to take a 1-0 lead. Carthage jumped out to a 9-1 lead in Set 2 en route to a 2-0 edge. The two teams were deadlocked at 9-9 in Set 3 before the Firebirds went on a 11-5 run to get some breathing room and salt the match away.
The Green Knights hit .160, with 30 kills against 14 errors in 100 attempts.
Frances McGann had nine kills, while
Ashlynn Vande Voort and
Gracie Buss had five each. Puttin finished with nine assists.
Butz led the back row with nine digs, while Buss posted five blocks.
