WAVERLY, Iowa – The University of Dubuque women's volleyball team traveled down highway 20 to Waverly this evening to take on the #1 seed Wartburg College Knights (25-0) in the American Rivers Conference semifinals. The Spartans came into the match-up looking for a big upset and giving the Knights their first loss of the season. The Knights offense would be too much to handle as they would sweep the Spartans 3-0 to end the Spartans season.

The Spartans could forget the first set as the Knights would make quick work and take the first set with a 25-8 victory. The Spartans would battle hard in the second set as they would hold a 13-9 lead to force a Wartburg timeout. The Knights would finish the rest of the set with all the momentum to take set two 25-18. The Spartans had no quit in them as they would battle in set three with their season on the line. They had a 20-18 lead with a set win in mind, but the Knight offensive attack was just too strong, and the Knights would rally to take the set 25-23 to sweep the Spartans.

The Spartans were led tonight by Emma Powell with 10 kills. Senior Julie May added five. Senior Kate Messino had 16 assists to lead the way. The Spartans struggled to hit tonight and finished .032 in the three sets.

The Spartans end the 2021 season with a record 12-18 (.400), 4-4 (.500) in A-R-C action and qualified in the A-R-C tournament. The Spartans had two all-conference players with senior Darby Hawtrey and Emma Powell receiving recognition.