Women's Volleyball Falls on the Road in Four Games at Benedictine

Atchison, Kan., (Oct. 10, 2023)- The Missouri Valley College women's volleyball team traveled to Atchison, Kan., for a Heart of America Athletic Conference match Tuesday evening against Benedictine (Kan.).  The Vikings went to four games, but fell by scores of 21-25, 25-16, 14-25, 22-25.

Missouri Valley fell into an early deficit at the start of the first game, trailing by a 7-2 score.  The team worked back to take four-straight points, helped by a kill from Sophomore Nekane Parera (Barcelona, Spain) and three-straight Benedictine errors to close the gap to 7-6.  The two teams traded points over the next stretch of play, which featured two kills from Junior Outside Hitter Juliana Oliviera (Ribeario Preto, Brazil) and one kill from Senior Outside Hitter Kseinja Simun (Kotor, Montenegro) as the score sat at 11-10.  The Vikings stayed close after one kill from Parera and an ace from Senior Libero Jeanie Palsis (Nanakuli, Hawaii) kept the team close at 14-13.  The pair of Junior Middle Blocker Emma Schulte (Marshall, Mo.) and Junior Right Side Maria Bertholdo (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) each had one kill then teamed up on a block to tie the teams at 20-20.  The Ravens responded to close out, winning five of the final six points to take game one, 25-21.

Game two started with an early run for the Vikings, featuring one kill from Schulte and Oliviera, and an ace from Junior Setter Lynsey Day (Kingman, Ariz.) to help the team win five-straight points and go on top, 5-0.  Oliviera and Bertholdo each added one kill, while Schulte and Bertholdo added a block to help push the advantage to 9-1.  Benedictine came back to win seven-straight points and shrink the deficit to 9-8.  The score sat at 10-9 when MVC put together another run.  Missouri Valley won seven of the next eight points, including one kill and one ace from both Simun and Bertholdo along with one block and one kill from Parera to put the advantage at 17-10.  The two teams traded points through the rest of the game, and the Vikings used a late block and one more kill from Bertholdo to reach game-point.  Bertholdo then finished off one more kill to end the second game, 25-16, and tie the teams at 1-1 in the match.  The Ravens were limited to a -.022 hitting percentage in the game.

Benedictine built up an advantage at the start of the third game, holding a double-digit lead at 18-8.  The Vikings tried to comeback late in the game, winning five of six points during a stretch of play.  Bertholdo and Schulte teamed up on two blocks, while Schulte put down a pair of kills during the run of play, but BC won the game, 25-14.

Missouri Valley went on top early in the fourth game, as Oliviera finished off one block and one kill, while Bertholdo had two kills to help put the score at 6-4.  Simun and Oliviera each added one kill to help keep MVC ahead, 8-7.  Benedictine responded with four-straight points to pull in front, 11-8.  The Viking deficit grew from there, as the score sat at 18-13.  The next four points went to Missouri Valley, as Bertholdo landed two aces and Simun finished off one kill to pull back into an 18-17 deficit.  The Ravens stayed in front through the rest of the game and finished out a 25-22 win to take the match, 3-1 in games won.

Simun led with a double-double of 11 kills and 15 digs.  Oliviera also had a double-double of 10 kills and 19 digs.  Day totaled a double-double of 36 assists and 18 digs, while Palsis led with 22 digs.  Missouri Valley had a season-high 14 blocks to go with seven aces in the match.

Missouri Valley falls to 12-12 overall and 4-6 in the Heart.  Benedictine improves to 17-4 on the season and 9-2 in the conference.

Up next, the Viking women's volleyball team will travel to Lamoni, Iowa, for a Heart match with Graceland (Iowa), Friday at 7 p.m.

Box Score-Click Here

About Missouri Valley College

Known for its dynamic, richly diverse, and friendly educational environment, Missouri Valley College offers many opportunities to grow in mind, body, and spirit. Grounded in the liberal arts, undergraduate studies empower students to master interdisciplinary skills needed to succeed in a knowledge-based global society. MVC offers over 30 academic programs, study abroad program, extracurricular activities, and a wide variety of sports. The most popular majors include education and business, criminal justice and exercise science. Above all, Valley is committed to student success. For more information, call (660) 831-4000 or visit www.moval.edu.