LA CROSSE, WIS – The Valley City State volleyball team dropped a three-set match to No. 2 Viterbo Saturday afternoon 25-14, 25-13 and 25-23.
The nationally ranked V-Hawks collected 48 kills on a .343 hitting percentage while holding VCSU to 22 kills on a .087 attack percentage.
Viterbo improves to 32-1 overall and remains undefeated in conference play with a 12-0 record. Valley City State drops to 13-15 overall and 8-4 in the NSAA.
Viking senior Katie Juarez tallied five kills Saturday, bringing her career total to 972 kills. Juarez surpassed Karen Rawlings in the VCSU record book and is tied with Sarah Hiebert to rank 9th all-time in career kills.
Juarez also added a team-high 13 digs Saturday while Kallene Klever chipped in eight. Sadie Hansen finished with 17 set assists and six digs, and Bailey Nelson totaled 10 kills Saturday.
Viterbo's Miah Garant totaled a match-high 16 kills on a .714 attack percentage to pace the V-Hawks Saturday. Maya Roberts chipped in 12 kills and Adrianna Reinhard totaled team-high 19 digs.
Lauryn Sobasky tallied 23 set assists and Abbey Johnson finished with 18 assists and eight digs for Viterbo.
The V-Hawks took an 8-1 run in the first set to build an 11-5 early advantage. Viterbo finished the set with three kills and a service ace to win the first set 25-14.
In the second set, Viterbo held a narrow 13-10 advantage until a Maya Roberts kill sparked a seven-point rally for the V-Hawks. The Vikings would not recover as Viterbo won the second set 25-13.
Then in set three, Valley City State opened with a 9-5 lead including a pair of kills from Makayla Wetzel. VCSU held on to keep a tie at 17-17 when Viterbo scored the next four straight points. As VCSU trailed 23-19, the Vikings took three straight points capped by a kill from Juarez to trail 23-22. A kill by Nelson held off Viterbo's match point but a final kill by Katie Frohmader finished the set 25-23 in favor of the V-Hawks.
UP NEXT: Valley City State travels to Mayville State on Wednesday, Nov. 3. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.
