Women's Volleyball Earns Win at Clarke

Dubuque, Iowa, (Oct. 12, 2024)- The Missouri Valley College women's volleyball team traveled to Dubuque, Iowa, for a Saturday afternoon Heart of America Athletic Conference match with Clarke (Iowa).  The Vikings won in four games by scores of 25-23, 25-22, 31-33, 25-16.

The first game opened with the two teams trading points through an 8-8 score.  Junior Middle Hitter Patrysia Uzoma (Moscow, Russia), Senior Middle Hitter Emma Schulte (Marshall, Mo.), Junior Middle Hitter Kinga Ramonowicz (Krepiec, Poland) and Junior Outside Hitter Blanca Arciniega Palma (El Paso, Texas) each had one kill, while Junior Setter Ana Santos (Curitiba, Brazil) added an ace during the stretch of play.  Missouri Valley won three-straight points, helped by one kill from both Palma and Schulte, to move in front, 11-9.  The Vikings went on a six-point run which included two kills from Senior Outside Hitter Ksenija Simun (Kotor, Montenegro) and one kill from Ramonowicz to put the lead at 19-15.  Clarke answered back with four-straight points to tie the teams at 19-19, and points were traded through a 21-21 score.  Late kills from Palma and Schulte moved MVC to game-point, and one more kill by Simun ended the first game, 25-23, in favor of Missouri Valley.

Points were traded at the start of the second game, as Schulte and Uzoma teamed up on a block, followed by three kills from Simun and another kill by Palma to help the Vikings hold a 7-6 advantage.  Clarke responded by winning five of the next six points to pull in front, 11-8.  Missouri Valley came back with eight of the next nine points as Simun put down two kills and both Ramonowicz and Uzoma added one kill as the team pulled back on top, 16-12.  The Pride worked its deficit down to 17-16, but Ramonowicz finished off a pair of kills and Simun added another kill to stretch the lead out to 22-17.  The final three points for Missouri Valley all came on CU errors to close out a 25-22 win.

Going for the sweep in game three, the Vikings went on top early, as Schulte, Simun and Ramonowicz all had one kill to make it a 4-3 score.  Palma had three kills over the next stretch of play, while Sophomore Setter Paige Siebert (St. Louis, Mo.) and Schulte added one kill apiece and Senior Defensive Specialist Momoko Yokoyama (Tokyo, Japan) landed an ace to put the advantage at 12-9.  Clarke followed with a run to eventually pull in front, 20-14.  The Vikings came back with five-straight points, helped by one kill from Ramonowicz, who teamed up with Simun on a block, with an ace from Santos to cut the deficit down to 20-19.  Missouri Valley eventually went back on top after a pair of Palma kills made it a 22-21 score.  The teams traded points through the rest of the game.  The Pride held five game points and MVC reached match point four times.  The game ended with three-straight points won by Clarke to extend the contest into a fourth game with a 33-31 score.

Missouri Valley took an early lead in the fourth game, as Palma put down a pair of kills, and both Schulte and Ramonowicz added one kill each to make it a 7-4 score.  The Pride then won six of the next seven points to take a 10-8 lead.  The Vikings responded and back-to-back aces from Santos, followed by a block from Ramonowicz and Senior Right Side Bea Bartolome (Madrid, Spain) to help the team hold a 15-12 advantage.  Missouri Valley controlled the game from there, as two-straight blocks from the pair of Schulte and Uzoma made it a 23-16 score.  After a CU error made it match-point, Simun ended the contest with a final kill to end a 25-16 win, and a victory in the match.  The Pride was limited to a match-low .022 hitting percentage in the game.

Simun led with a double-double of 16 kills and 20 digs.  Ramonowicz had 13 kills and six digs, while Palma added 14 kills.  Schulte finished with 10 kills.  Siebert had a double-double with a team-high 29 assists to go with 12 digs, and Santos had 23 assists and nine digs.  Junior Libero Ana Franco (Cascais, Spain) led with 27 digs.  Missouri Valley totaled seven blocks and six aces as a team.  

The win moves Missouri Valley to 13-9 overall and 5-4 in the Heart.  Clarke drops to 11-13 on the season and 2-8 in the conference.

Up next, the Viking women's volleyball team will host MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.), Tuesday at 7 p.m., for Pink Night inside the Burns Athletic Complex.

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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.