Women's Volleyball Wins Twice at Viking Invitational Saturday

Marshall, Mo., (August 24, 2024)- The Missouri Valley College women's volleyball team finished play at the Viking Invitational, Saturday, with a pair of matches inside the Burns Athletic Complex.  The Vikings swept past William Penn (Iowa), then overcame an early deficit to top Graceland (Iowa) in four games.  Both counted as non-conference results.

William Penn went on top at the start of the first game, building up a 7-3 lead.  The Vikings countered with seven-straight points, led by one block each from Senior Middle Hitter Emma Schulte (Marshall, Mo.) and Junior Setter Ana Santos (Curitiba, Brazil).  Senior Outside Hitter Ksenija Simun (Kotor, Montenegro) capped the run with a kill, and the score sat at 10-7.  William Penn worked back to an 11-10 deficit, but one kill from Senior Outside Hitter Ana Oro (Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina) helped MVC push its advantage to 14-10.  Another rally followed by WPU, taking six-straight points to move ahead once again, this time at 16-14.  Missouri Valley countered with another streak, winning nine-straight points.  Oro and Schulte each landed two kills, while Schulte teamed up with Senior Middle Hitter Alanah Best (Lima, Ohio) on a pair of blocks as the team held a 23-16 lead.  Oro moved MVC to game-point with another kill and a block from Best and Simun closed out a 25-18 win to take the first game.

The two teams traded points at the start of the second game, as Junior Middle Hitter Kinga Ramonowicz (Krepiec, Poland), Best and Schulte each had one kill through a 3-3 score.  Schulte, Simun and Sophomore Setter Paige Siebert (St. Louis, Mo.) added one kill apiece to keep the teams even at 7-7.  William Penn gradually built up a lead from there, out to a 15-11 score.  Best answered with a kill, while Oro put down an ace to close the gap to 15-13.  A four-point run for MVC, featuring one kill from Ramonowicz and three William Penn errors, brought the teams into another tie, at 17-17.  The Vikings briefly went on top, after Schulte landed a kill and Senior Libero Momoko Yokoyama (Tokyo, Japan) finished off an ace to make it 19-18.  William Penn countered, and held a 23-22 advantage.  However, Missouri Valley took control at the end, using late kills from Schulte and Simun to come back and take the second game, 25-23.

Going for the sweep in the third game, Missouri Valley used a block from Santos and Best, to go with three WPU errors, to move in front, 4-1.  After William Penn worked back to tie the score at 6-6, the Vikings rattled off five-straight points.  Yokoyama landed two aces, and MVC held an 11-6 lead.  The teams traded the next several points, through a 17-12 score.  William Penn then won five-straight to even the game at 17-17, and eventually claimed a 21-19 lead.  Missouri Valley again took control late in the game, forcing WPU into four-straight errors to build up a 23-21 advantage.  Another William Penn error pushed the team to match-point, and Oro sealed up the win with a kill to make it 25-22, and a sweep for the Vikings.  William Penn was limited to a -.026 hitting percentage in the game.

Oro led with 10 kills, while Simun had seven kills and 11 digs.  Schulte added seven kills.  Siebert totaled 18 assists, and Yokoyama led with three aces.  Missouri Valley had six blocks and five aces as a team.

Play against Graceland started with the teams trading points through much of play in the first game.  The Yellowjackets won three-straight points to pull ahead, 13-11, and stayed on top at 17-15.  One kill from Ramonowicz and two GU errors pushed the Vikings on top, 18-17.  Graceland responded to win four-straight points, and hold a 21-18 advantage.  Missouri Valley closed the gap with one kill from Oro to make it a 21-20 score.  Three of the next four points went to the Yellowjackets, who eventually closed out a 25-21 win the first game.

Missouri Valley jumped out to an early lead in the second game, as Santos and Oro landed one kill each to make it a 4-0 score.  Graceland answered with four-straight points to tie the game, and eventually went in front, 8-7.  Junior Outside Hitter Blanca Palma (El Paso, Texas) answered with two-straight kills, and Junior Defensive Specialist Avery Crain (Shell Knob, Mo.) put down an ace.  Schulte, Oro and Palma all added one kill to finish out a run for MVC that moved the team ahead, 13-9.  The Vikings pulled away from there, as Ramonowicz and Santos teamed up for a block, and Palma earned an ace to make it an 18-11 lead.  Six-straight points late in the game were won by MVC, which included Senior Middle Hitter Brooke Wright (Mansfield, Ark.) teaming up with Schulte and Oro on blocks, then Wright added one kill.  Schulte moved the team to game-point on a solo block, and a late GU error ended the game, 25-15, to tie the match at 1-1 in games won.  Graceland was kept to a -.050 hitting percentage.

The third game opened with Missouri Valley building up a lead, as Siebert put down an ace, and Oro landed one kill to make it a 7-3 score.  Graceland answered with five-straight points to pull ahead, 8-7, and the two teams traded points over a stretch of play.  One kill from both Santos and Oro moved MVC on top, 12-11, but the Yellowjackets responded by taking four of the next five points to sit in front, 14-12.  A five-point run for the Vikings featured three GU errors, an ace from Crain and one kill from Ramonowicz to push the team into the lead, at 19-16.  Oro and Ramonowicz each added one more kill to make it a 22-18 score, and a Palma ace gave MVC its first game-point.  Graceland extended the game, at 24-24, but Oro put down two-straight kills to end the game, and give Missouri Valley a 26-24 win.

Needing to win the fourth game to extend the match, the Yellowjackets went in front early, and held a 9-6 advantage.  The Vikings responded with five-straight points, helped by one kill from Schulte and Palma, then a three-point run featuring one kill from Ramonowicz gave MVC a 14-11 lead.  Missouri Valley continued build up streaks in the game, next winning four-straight points on another kill from Ramonowicz, and one kill from Oro, as the team stayed ahead, 18-12.  Graceland chipped its deficit down to 18-16, but the Vikings pulled away with five-straight points.  Oro had two kills, and Palma added one kill to make it 23-16.  Siebert moved MVC to match-point on a kill, and one more Graceland error sealed a 25-17 win in the game, and a 3-1 victory in the match.  The Yellowjackets were limited to a -.094 hitting percentage.

Missouri Valley was led by Oro, who finished with a double-double of 15 kills and 13 digs.  Schulte had seven kills, and Palma added six kills.  Santos led with 17 assists, and Siebert added a double-double of 14 kills and 10 digs.  Junior Defensive Specialist Ana Franco (Cascais, Portugal) led with 14 digs, and Yokoyama added 12 digs.  Missouri Valley had eight blocks and five aces in the match.

The pair of wins move the team to 6-3 on the season.  On Friday at the Viking Invitational, Missouri Valley fell behind early, and battled back to win in five games over Tabor (Kan.), by scores of 23-25, 25-17, 25-23, 23-25, 15-10.

Up next, the Vikings will travel to St. Louis, Mo., for a non-conference contest with Harris-Stowe State (Mo.), Tuesday at 6 p.m.

William Penn Box Score-Click Here

Graceland Box Score-Click Here

About Missouri Valley College

Known for its dynamic, richly diverse, and friendly educational environment, Missouri Valley College offers many opportunities to grow in mind, body, and spirit. Grounded in the liberal arts, undergraduate studies empower students to master interdisciplinary skills needed to succeed in a knowledge-based global society. MVC offers over 30 academic programs, study abroad program, extracurricular activities, and a wide variety of sports. The most popular majors include education and business, criminal justice and exercise science. Above all, Valley is committed to student success. For more information, call (660) 831-4000 or visit www.moval.edu.

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