Volleyball Caps Regular Season with Home Victory

Volleyball closed out the regular season on Tuesday night with a home contest against Mount Marty. The Tigers had dropped their last three meetings with the Lancers but that would end as Doane won in four sets. Game scores were 25-23, 25-18, 19-25, and 25-23.

Doane jumped out to an 8-1 lead in the opening set as Taylor Sluka started out with five kills. The Tigers maintained a sizable lead, up eight at 19-11, before the Lancers began to rally. Mount Marty chipped away and pulled within a point, 24-23, before Camdyn Carpenter finished off the set with a kill.

The Lancers took the early lead in the second set, 8-4, and continued to keep the lead until the latter stages of the set. Trailing by two, 17-15, Doane went on a 5-0 run to take the lead. After a sideout for the Lancers, the Tigers would take the final five points of the set to go up 2-0.

Doane took a quick 3-1 lead in the third set but the Lancers would take over from there as they built an eight point advantage by the late stages of the set. Trailing 23-15, Doane was able to garner a little momentum before Mount Marty claimed the third set to extend the match.

The fourth set was the tightest of all the sets. The teams were tied 20-20 with neither side gaining more than a two-point advantage up until that mark. Doane rattled off four straight points to earn match point only to have the Lancers take three straight to pull within one point, 24-23. Delaney Burge finished off the win for the Tigers with a cross-court kill.

Taylor Sluka led the Tigers with 15 kills in the match and a .306 attack percentage. Frankie Curren-Graff posted nine and the trio of Olivia Navarro, Gracie Burwell, and Burge all posted eight kills. Carpenter posted 45 set assists in the match.

Sophia McKinney recorded two of the team's four ace serves. She also was the co-leader in digs, joined by Anna Sluka with 19 apiece. Carpenter added 17 digs in the match. The Tigers had 5.0 team blocks, three total blocks from Taylor Sluka and Burge.

Next up for the Tigers will be the GPAC Tournament as Doane will travel to Orange City, Iowa, to take on NAIA No. 1 Northwestern on Saturday, November 4, at 7 PM.