
Des Moines, Iowa - The #3 Viterbo University Volleyball Team used a complete team effort to help avenge a regular season loss to #2 Grand View University as they defeated the Vikings 24-26, 25-19, 25-21, 19-25, 15-10. The win puts the V-Hawks in the Midwest Collegiate Conference Championship game for just the second time since the MCC tournament was established.
After falling behind marginally in the first set, Viterbo battled back and led for the majority of the first set including a 20-18 lead late. The Vikings would battle back taking a 24-23 lead before Viterbo would get a side out. Unfortunately for the V-Hawks, two errors in the final points of the set gave Grand View the first set. Grand View started out fast in the second set to take an early 4-0 lead before Viterbo finally got going. Freshman Jordan Blaken (Melrose, Wis.) got the V-Hawks going as she served 10 straight points to give Viterbo a 10-4 lead. Grand View clawed its way back to tie the game at 14 before Viterbo was able to slowly pull away.
The third set started out with each team trading points and neither team really taking control. After Grand View took a 15-12 lead, Viterbo found a way to tie the game at 20. Blaken's serve once again came up huge for the V-Hawks as she served the final five points. With Viterbo having all the momentum and looking as though they would put the Vikings away, Grand View would not go away. With the game tied at 14, GVU scored 9 of the next 10 points to take a 23-15 lead. Viterbo was able to hang on for a little while but Grand View finally put the V-Hawks away 25-19. In the fifth and deciding set, the V-Hawk offense came out firing and would not let the Vikings really have a chance. VU finished the fifth set with 10 kills, no errors, and 19 attempts for a .526 hitting percentage.
Four V-Hawk players finished in double digits in kills with Jenna Lau (Jr. - Eau Claire, Wis.) leading the way with a season high 21 kills and an impressive .455 hitting percentage. Also in double figures for the V-Hawks was Amy Braaksma (So. - Randolph, Wis.), with 18 kills, Abby Breitung (Sr. - Tomah, Wis.) with 11 kills, and Kassie McGettigan (Fr. - La Crosse, Wis.) with 10 kills. Splitting the setting duties tonight was Amanda Bernett (Jr. - Sparta, Wis.) with 38 assists and Stacie Hoffman (Fr. - Mequon, Wis.) with 18 assists. The 38 assists for Bernett helped her break the single season school record as she now has 1020 assists on the season. Senior Heather Harelstad (Chippewa Falls, Wis.) was once again a spark plug for the V-Hawk defense as she finished with 26 digs.
With the win, the V-Hawks improve to 31-10 overall and set a single season high for wins since the V-Hawks won 33 games in 1990. The Vikings finish the season 24-14 overall. Viterbo finds themselves back in the MCC Championship for the first time since going in 2006. The V-Hawks will travel to Davenport, Iowa to take on #1 St. Ambrose University. The Queen Bees ran the table during the regular season going 8-0 including a 3-0 win over the V-Hawks back on October 21st. Viterbo will try to avenge the loss like they did tonight over the Vikings and advance to the 2009 NAIA Volleyball Championships for the first time in school history.
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