Macomb, Ill- The Western Illinois Volleyball team snapped their four-match home winning streak as they lost to Morehead State in four sets inside Western Hall. Keyana Cruse had a match-high 20 kills with the next closest Leatherneck being Brittany Wulf who had nine kills. Defensively, Karli Wenzel had a match-high 20 digs. Wenzel now has over 1,800 career digs and moves into second place all-time in program history for career digs.
WIU would come out slow against Morehead State, as the Eagles would jump out to a 12-6 lead to start the first set. The slow start would hurt the Leathernecks down the stretch as they would lose the opening set by a score of 25-16. The closest WIU would get during the set would be two when it was 6-4 early on.
In set two, WIU would flip the script on the Eagles and jump out to an early 8-2 lead. Keyana Cruse and Grace Ulatowski would lead the attack to start the set as Cruse would have three kills and Ulatowski would have two kills in the early going. With the Leathernecks in control at 18-11 late in the set, Morehead State would go on a 13-2 run to make it set point at 24-20. WIU would battle back to tie the set at 24-24 as Melaina Hawblitzel would get a service ace, Brittany Wulf would get a kill, and Wulf and Julianna Schmidt would get a block to highlight the 4-0 run. The Eagles would end the set on a 2-0 run to take the set by a score of 26-24.
WIU would use a 6-0 run in the middle of set number three to go up by a score of 12-5 midway through the middle set. Keyana Cruse would have a kill and a block assist to highlight the run. The Leathernecks would be able to hang on to the lead for the rest of the set as they would take set three by a score of 25-17. Set four was back-and-forth the whole way as both teams would go on runs at different points, but it was the Eagles who were able to go on more run to close out the set and the match. WIU got to set point at 24-22, but Morehead State would go on a 4-0 run to take set four by a score of 26-24 and took the match three sets to one.
The final home match of the year for WIU will be tomorrow afternoon. It's Senior day for the Leathernecks and first serve is set for 2 p.m.
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