MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Great teams come up big in difficult situations. If Edgewood College volleyball is to be considered a great team, point to Saturday's match at MSOE as evidence. The Eagles trailed by two sets and by a score of 6-2 in the fifth set, but pulled out a thrilling 3-2 victory (23-25, 22-25, 25-22, 25-23, 15-10) over the Raiders at the Kern Center.
Edgewood College (10-11, 5-1 NACC) struggled to find their rhythm through the first two sets. The Eagles hit only .143 in the first set and .171 in the second set and trailed for the majority of both sets. The Eagles found their footing in the third set. After tying the set 6-6, the Eagles rolled off an 8-2 run to take a 14-8 lead. MSOE (10-13, 2-4 NACC) came back to within 19-18, but consecutive kills by Tori Wiskow and an ace by Mackenzie Doherty put the Eagles up 22-18. Savannah Koester and Mackenzie Hannan socred kills to bring the Eagles to set point, and three serves later, Erika Van Engen put down the set-winning point to cut the Eagles deficit to 2-1.
The fourth set featured eight ties and four lead changes, but the Eagles rode the strength of Hannan who had four kills in 10 attempts in the set. Edgewood College looked to be in trouble, down 23-22 after an unassisted kill from the Raiders' Elsey Kohlmann. But Renee Meister recorded an unearned kill of her own and Sarah Uczen scored an ace to put the Eagles back in front 24-23. After an MSOE timeout, Hannan closed the set with a kill to force a decisive fifth set.
The Eagles fell behind 6-2 early in the fifth set, but somehow regrouped again. Meister, Koester and Doherty scored kills while Doherty and Wiskow teamed up on a block to tie the match at 6-6. The Eagles trailed again at 9-8 before Koester asserted herself. Koester scored back-to-back kills followed by a kill from Hannan, and then delivered two consecutive aces for a 13-9 lead. Van Engen put down a kill for the 14th point, and Hannan finished off the comeback with another kill.
Koester led the Eagles with a double-double consisting of 12 kills and 10 digs. She also scored four aces bringing her career, school-record total to 203 making her the first Eagle to ever reach 200 career service aces. She is now just 33 aces short of the NACC career record of 236 held by Alex Pinotti of Concordia University Chicago from 2006-09.
Hannan had 11 kills and just two errors for a .310 attack percentage, while Meister joined her in double figures with 10 kills, two blocks and a .318 percentage. Wiskow led all Eagles in hitting percentage at .571 scoring nine kills. Van Engen just missed a double-double with nine kills and 10 digs. Uczen had 22 digs to lead the Eagles, while Haley Schwenn and Alex Zapuchlak totaled 25 and 21 assists, respectively. Edgewood College hit .194 for the match, including .250 over the final two sets.
MSOE was led by Rachel Lynde's match-high 14 kills. Hannah Pekarek had 11 kills and 22 digs for the match. MSOE his .199 for the match.
Edgewood College will have the middle of the week free from games in preparation for a huge showdown with NACC co-leader Aurora University. The Eagles and Spartans will meet in Aurora on Friday night, October 13 in a match that will have seeding implications for the NACC Tournament.
