2013 Iowa Conference Volleyball Tournament Webpage
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa --- The 2013 Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) Volleyball Tournament opened Tuesday with the two first-round hosts holding serve and picking up victories. Both No. 3 Loras and No. 4 Luther produced impressive performances to open their postseason runs.
The third-seeded Duhawks (15-16) jumped on No. 6-seeded Simpson (17-14) early in the first set and did not look back en route to a 3-0 sweep. The Norse (16-18) received a challenge from the fifth-seeded Spartans (12-21), who fought back to take the second set in extra points. Luther bounced back, however, to double up UD over the last two sets for a 3-1 win.
Loras and Luther advance to Thursday's IIAC Tournament semifinal matches where No. 1-seeded Wartburg and No. 2-seeded Coe await. Those four will battle for the two spotsin Saturday's championship match.
No. 3 Loras def. No. 6 Simpson, 3-0 [ Box Score ]
In Dubuque, Loras sprinted out to a 15-5 lead in the first set on the way to a 25-13 win thanks to a .250 attack percentage and eight errors by Simpson.
The second set was a back-and-forth affair. Simpson jumped out to a 20-16 lead late, but key serves by Courtney Boyd and Danielle Kennedy gave Loras a 22-21 edge before closing out the set 25-22. The Duhawks took the third set, 25-17, behind a .320 attack percentage.
Loras was led by Kara Grant, who posted a match-high nine kills and eight digs. Tara Blake added seven kills, 10 assists and seven digs. Danielle Kennedy added four kills, two aces, five digs and five block assists. Jenna Erickson had a match-high 14 assists.
Three players accounted Simpson's 17 kills in the match, with Tabitha Blaser posting a team-high eight and Torey Buenger adding six. Kim Rogers notched 13 digs with another 10 coming from Audrey Schuttler. Rebekah Kimsey posted nine assists and Buenger and Rogers had three aces each.
No. 4 Luther def. No. 5 Dubuque, 3-1 [ Box Score ]
The Norse jumped out to the early 1-0 lead with a 25-14 win in the first set behind a .330 attack percentage and only three errors.
Dubuque battled back in set number two, recording 14 kills to Luther's 11 in a 27-25 victory. Luther was able to quickly stifle any momentum the Spartans had and closed out the match with 25-17 and 25-8 wins in the final two sets, hitting .448 in the third set and .348 in the fourth compared to Dubuque's .121 and minus-.061.
The Norse received support from throughout the lineup. Natalee Johnson posted 12 kills on 27 attack and finished with a .370 attack percentage, while Hannah Wilson posted 10 kills on 21 attacks with only one error for a .429 attack percentage. Brandi Knupp notched 17 digs and Lindsey Ryan dished out 39 assists.
Dubuque's Klaudia Basierak has a match-high 15 kills on 59 total attacks. It was feast-or-famine for Basierak, though, as she also had 12 errors and finished with a .051 attack percentage. Amy Tranel finished with eight kills with Meggie Schmidt adding 16 assists to go along with nine digs. Hannah Zieser posted 13 assists.
Knights, Kohawks to Host Semifinals
With the first round in the books, attention now turns to a pair of Iowa Conference Tournament semifinal matches on Thursday. Top-seeded Wartburg (24-11) will host No. 4 Luther in Waverly, and No. 2 Coe (32-4) will host No. 3 Loras. Both matches will start at 7 p.m.
The winners will advance to Saturday's championship match, which is also slated for a 7 p.m. start on the home court of the highest remaining seed. The tournament champion will receive the Iowa Conference's automatic berth in the 2013 NCAA Division III Volleyball Championship. The Knights are the defending IIAC Tournament champion, defeating Loras 3-0 last year for the title.
