Volleyball Wins American Rivers Conference Tournament Title
Nov 3, 2018
WAVERLY, Iowa - The University of Dubuque volleyball team upended the Wartburg Knights in four set on Saturday night to claim the American Rivers Conference championship and clinch the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
With the opening set tied at 16, the Spartans rattled off three straight points to take a 19-16 lead. However, the Knights would go on a four point run of their to regain the lead. The two teams would each have opportunities to take the first set but the Spartans finally took advantage of the opportunity and grabbed the first set, 27-25. In the second set, UD trailed 12-17 but rallied to take the lead at 20-19 but Wartburg stormed back to win the set 25-23 and even the match at one set all.
The Spartans raced out to leads of 5-0 and 10-4 leads in the third set but Wartburg inched their way back into the set to go ahead 15-14. After trading points, Wartburg had the lead late before UD scored the next five points to win the set, 25-21. UD started the fourth set much like the third, jumping out to 4-0 lead before Wartburg stormed back and took the lead. Wartburg led the set at 22-21, when UD scored three straight points behind kills from Paige Harbort and Sarrah Farraday and a service ace from Kara Wright. The Spartans took the set and the match with a kill from Shauna McAleer.
Kara Wright powered the UD offensive attack against the Knights with 20 kills on 59 attempts. Wright was also third on UD with 15 digs and added four kills as well for a complete performance for the conference player of the year. Rylee Andresen pitched in 12 kills with just two errors on 29 attempts. Sarrah Farraday was the third and final Spartan to reach double figures in kills with 10. Jenna Runde led UD in digs with 19.
This is the first conference tournament for the volleyball program since 1995 and the fourth time they have qualified for the NCAA Tournament (1994, 1995, 1998). The slection show for the NCAA Division III NCAA Tournament will be on Monday.
