DES MOINES – Five Iowa Wesleyan College volleyball seniors saw their careers end Saturday night as the Tigers were unable to pull the upset and lost to Grand View University in the Midwest Collegiate Conference quarterfinals.
The seventh-seeded Tigers lost to the Vikings 25-13, 25-21, 25-18, falling in three sets to the tourney’s #2 seed. IWC finished its season with a 10-25 record, while Grand View advanced to the tournament semifinals to face third-seeded St. Ambrose University Wednesday night.
Wesleyan gave up too many scoring runs to a strong Viking team that improved to 33-8 this season and won both meetings between the teams this season. Grand View won the first meeting in four sets on Sept. 8, and this time took care of the Tigers quickly by dominating the first and third sets.
The Vikings scored eight straight points in the middle of the first set, taking over after the Tigers trailed just 10-8 early on. GVU took an 18-8 lead and never led by less than nine the rest of the set. The hosts also got off to a quick start in the third set, taking a 9-2 lead at the start, though Wesleyan closed within three late before Grand View scored the final four points of the match to win.
IWC was most competitive in the second set, which was tied at twelve different points. The Tigers led late in the set after a block by Kendra Zimmerman (Sr.-Green Bay, Wis.) and Allegra Tennis (Sr.-Madison, Wis.) made it 17-16. Grand View would score five straight points, though, and the Tigers never got closer than three points in the final stages of the set.
Megan McVey (Jr.-Fort Worth, Texas) led Wesleyan with nine kills, while B.J. Wagy (Sr.-Cedar Rapids, Iowa) added seven kills and finished her career with exactly 1,000 kills, fifth-most in IWC history. The Tigers hit .114 for the match with 24 kills and 14 errors, but hit -.111 in the first set with four kills and seven errors.
Katie Jammer (Sr.-Green Bay, Wis.) led IWC with nine digs, while Zimmerman had 19 assists and Wagy had five blocks. The match was the final one for seniors Jammer, Tennis, Wagy, Zimmerman and Andress Van Zile (Sr.-Cedar Rapids, Iowa).
