Volleyball drops close match to Coe

Despite a slow start, women’s volleyball fought defending conference champs Coe College to a full five sets, but ended with a 3-2 loss on Wednesday, Sept. 12.
Luther lost the first two sets by scores of 25-18 and 26-24. They answered with two wins of 25-20 and 26-24 to tie the match score. The last set was decided by a 15-11 Coe victory.
Captain Sophia Brown (‘13) and Hannah Theisen (‘16) led the team in kills with 13 each. Lindsey Ryan (‘16) made 38 assists, while Jordyn Dudek (‘14) and Natalee Johnson (‘16) contributed 16 digs each.
Head Coach Danielle Lynch noticed areas of strength and improvement throughout the match.
“I think the energy was up, intensity was up,” Lynch said. “We need to start going a little faster, but overall, I’m very proud of how they played, their team morale—just that energy … we had to switch up our defense a little bit just to adjust. We had too many service errors—take that time, take a breath, get back to the service line and focus on winning.”
Brown was pleased with several aspects of Wednesday’s performance.
“When we had a sense of urgency, our communication was great,” Brown said. “We really heard the back row when the front row was going up to swing and I think that was a really good thing. Our energy level was high and that was really key tonight, too.”
That energy was instrumental in their comeback victories in games three and four.
“We were down by two in two games, and we came back and brought them to five,” Ellen Pritchard (‘15) said. “That’s something, to pull together as a team like that. That’s really commendable for being a young team.”

Young is right. This year’s team boasts just one senior, Brown, and three juniors: Dudek, Alexis Dorschner (‘14) and Hannah Wilson (‘14).
“It just gives us a chance to grow more than other teams can,” Brown said. “A lot of teams have a lot of juniors and seniors, which is great, but they have hit their peak. With us, we have a lot of potential to just grow, grow, grow.”
Since conference play has just begun, the Norse will have plenty of opportunities to explore their potential.
“We can only go up from here,” Wilson said. “We’re miles beyond where we were last season, so we can only do great things from here.”
The next home game will be a non-conference matchup at home vs UW-La Crosse on Friday, Sept. 28 at 7:00 p.m.