Posted: Sep 20, 2017

Kirkwood Drops Five-Setter to Indian Hills

CEDAR RAPIDS -- The ninth-ranked Kirkwood women's volleyball team knows that in order to be the best in the nation they have to play against the best. Merely one month into the season, the Eagles have already faced ranked opponents in well over half of their matches.

That trend continued last night as the Eagles hosted NJCAA Division I and sixth-ranked Indian Hills at Johnson Hall.

Indian Hills ultimately escaped with the win in five sets by scores of 23-25, 25-20, 29-27, 22-25, 15-12, but not after getting everything they could handle from the young Eagles.

Kirkwood came out strong early taking the first set 25-23 only to see the Warriors of Indian Hills take the next two sets 25-20 and 29-27.

With their backs against the wall, Kirkwood was able to bounce back to force a decisive fifth set with a 25-22 win in the fourth.

In the fifth, the Eagles took an early 4-0 lead before Indian Hills stormed back to tie it at 5, forcing a Kirkwood timeout. Following the timeout, Indian Hills never trailed again, eventually opening up a 14-11 advantage before claiming the final set, 15-12, and the win.

Margaret Micka recorded a double-double for the Eagles with 15 digs and a team-high 12 kills. McKenzie Petersen had a team-high eight blocks while Haleigh Durnin recorded seven. Abbi Tunis and Ady Wintermote contributed 10 kills and 9 kills, respectively. Brianna Eberhardt notched a team-high 25 digs while Lauren Keane dished out 17 assists to lead the Eagles.

The Eagles are back in action at home tonight vs. Southeastern (10-8) at 6:30 p.m. in Johnson Hall.