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Volleyball fourth at IIAC tourney

Date 11/9/2000 12:00 AM | Topic: Sports

The Luther women's volleyball team ended IIAC tournament play with a strong fourth place finish last weekend. The Norse hosted the event on Nov. 3 and 4 and were seeded fifth going into the tourney. Student coach Joe Kissner ('01) said, "We improved our position from the regular season. That's a positive thing."

The women began the tournament on Friday evening with a big win against fourth seeded Loras (15-13, 15-9, 1-15, 16-14). According to Kissner, this was an excellent match to win because being in the lower bracket would not have allowed for a fourth place finish or higher.

Leading the Norse in this match were Gwen Mowry ('01) with 15 kills, Katie Kuhlman ('04) with 47 assists, and Shea Newmeister ('04) with 20 digs, 5 blocks, and 2 aces. This victory led to a competition with Central, who ended up winning the tournament title on Saturday morning.

First-seeded Central proved to be a challenge for Luther, winning two of the three matches to defeat the Norse (15-3, 15-10, 15-1). In the game, Sarah Martin ('01) had seven kills, and Kuhlman added 16 assists. Lisa Dettmann ('01) jumped for three blocks. The loss to Central placed the Norse in contention for third place, and they faced rival Wartburg on Saturday afternoon.

The game against Wartburg was close, and Luther "finished strong" according to Kissner. However, the Norse fell short in four close matches (10-15, 15-10,15-4, 15-12) for fourth place overall. Martin contributed 13 kills, and Newmeister added 5 blocks. Mowry had 10 digs while Kuhlman set for 49 assists.

Kissner concluded, "We could have placed higher, but we can't be disappointed with the way we played."

The women did end one place higher in the tournament than they did in the regular season and were happy for this feat. The team will be saying good-bye to seniors Mowry, Dettmann, and Lisa Dybvik.

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Abbey Weis
Chips Sports Editor

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