CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) women's volleyball tournament continued Thursday night as the #4 seed University of Dubuque Spartans traveled to take on the #1 seed Coe College Kohawks in the semifinals. In the AVCA rankings, the Kohawks enter tonight ranked #21. The Spartans would push the Kohawks to the absolute brink in five sets, but the #1 seed Kohawks would win 3-2 (19-25, 25-23, 21-25, 25-17, 9-15).
The Kohawks are no stranger to the Spartans as they played last Wednesday night where the Kohawks swept the Spartans 3-0 in the last regular season conference match of the season.
The Spartans would battle tough with the Kohawks through the opening portion of the first set as both teams battled to be even at 16-16 before the Kohawks used a late run to secure the first set 25-19.
Emma Powell led all attackers with six kills and
Darby Hawtrey had five in the set. The second set would be full of scoring runs where the Spartans used a 4-0 run to jump out to a 11-9 lead forcing the Kohawks to call timeout. The Kohawks would then respond out of the timeout with a 6-0 run of their own to recapture the lead 15-11. A late 6-0 run followed by a service error by the Kohawks secured the set win for the Spartans 25-23.
The Kohawks would find themselves ahead quick in the third set 6-1, but the Spartans would continue to battle back, but still trailed 13-11. The Spartans then went on a run to lead by as much as four at 17-13. The Kohawks attacked better down the stretch to move ahead 2-1 in set wins after a 25-21 set three victory.
Entering potentially their final set of the season, the Spartans answered in a big way dominating the fourth set offensively to win 25-17. The Spartans outhit the Kohawks .343% to .051%. The fifth and final set would be as intense as it could get, but the Kohawks did enough in the end to move on to the conference championship game.
Hawtrey ends her incredible career with 18 kills. Powell finishes with 14 and
Payton Uptagraft adds 12.
Maegan Brylski recorded 25 assists and
Kaylynn Murray added 16.
Katie Wright snagged 32 digs to lead the Spartans and Powell had 30.
The Spartans end their season at 11-18, 4-4. All-Conference selections will be released on Tuesday, November 8 at noon.
