Red Devils Open Road Stretch With Setback at Iowa Wesleyan

MOUNT PLEASANT, Iowa – Lexi Dooley (Sutter, Ill./Warsaw H.S.) continued her strong play with a 17-kill, 14-dig double-double and Heather Robinson (Peoria, Ill./Limestone H.S.) also reached double figures with 10 kills, but the Eureka College volleyball team dropped a 25-15, 25-17, 24-26, 25-15 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference decision at Iowa Wesleyan, Thursday night in Mount Pleasant, Iowa.

Dooley's effort allowed her to reach double-digit kills for the fourth time in her last five outings. She has four double-doubles in 2018.

Sara Worrell (Jacksonville, Ill./Routt Catholic H.S.) tallied 14 assists and three Red Devils had at least 12 digs – Dooley, Paige Klingler (Newton, Ill./Newton H.S.) and McKenna Cleer (Havana, Ill./Havana H.S.).

Eureka scored four of the first five points of the night, but IWU punched back in a big way with a 15-2 run. The Tigers led by as many as 11 points in the frame before closing out a 25-15 victory on Allegra Collette's kill.

IWU never trailed in set two. Eureka trailed by a single point midway through the set (11-10), but the Tigers scored seven of the next eight points to create some breathing room en route to a 25-17 triumph.

The Red Devils forced a fourth game with a 26-24 win in game three. Eureka pushed its lead to as many as six points (17-11) on Robinson's kill, but the Tigers maintained the pressure and ultimately pulled even at 24-24 on an EC attack error. The rally would eventually run out of steam when back-to-back IWU errors gave the Red Devils the set.

Iowa Wesleyan scored the first four points of the final game and promptly built a double-digit lead when Lida Landre's kill made the score 13-3. Eureka never closed the gap closer than eight the rest of the way.

Eureka will hit the road again for two SLIAC matches this Saturday. The Red Devils will visit Blackburn at 10 a.m. in Carlinville, Ill., followed by a noon neutral-site match against MacMurray.