The Kirkwood Eagles volleyball team closed out the weekend with a perfect 4-0 record. After defeating Iowa Lakes 3-2 and Iowa Central 3-0 on Friday they added to their sweep by winning matches against Central Lakes 3-0 and North Dakota State College of Science 3-0 on Saturday.
“We are very happy with the results this weekend, especially Saturday’s play,” said head coach Jill Williams. “We passed the ball well and put together some good runs when we needed it most. Now we need to focus on consistency and game time adjustments.”
The Eagles started out by upending the host team, Iowa Lakes three games to two (16-25, 25-17, 12-25, 25-17, 15-12). Top playmakers were Kamille Van Natta and Tomomi Sakurai with nine & six kills each, Sakurai led the team defensively with 15 digs, setter Tess Wegner with 16 assists and 5 digs. Beth Ripperger added with consistent serve receive passing for the match.
Later Friday, Kirkwood took on another conference opponent, Iowa Central and made big plays when it counted most to win three games to none (25-22, 20-25, 25-17). Leading the attack for the Eagles were Van Natta, with 7 kills, Rachel Walker and Katie Johnson 5 a piece and Deidre Schaefer added to the Eagle attack with an impressive .571 hitting efficiency and 5 blocks. Wegner had 16 assists and Ellie Farrier 11.
Saturday morning Kirkwood played back to back matches with Central Lakes and NDSCS, winning both in 3 set matches. Against Central Lakes, (25-12, 25-22, 25-19) Julia Brus got her hitting back on track, she hit a .364 with 12 kills, outside hitters, Van Natta and Sakurai put together a good match of ball control and had 7 and 6 kills each. For the final match of the day for Kirkwood Hanna Bruns made her presence known on the court, she had 6 kills and 2 blocks as Kirkwood won all 3 sets (25-9, 25-16, 25-21).
“We are on the right track to rising our level of play – winning four matches on the road is big,” said Williams. Kirkwood will travel to Southeastern on Wednesday for a Regional match. Then the Eagles will return to Johnson Hall Sept. 5 and 6 for the annual Holiday Inn Express/Kirkwood Invitational Tournament. The Eagles will take the court at two o’clock Friday to take on Southwestern.
A complete schedule is available at www.kirkwood.edu/volleyball.