Women’s Volleyball Halted in the Fifth Set of the Home Opener to St. Ambrose

Lamoni, Iowa - The Graceland University women's volleyball team opened their season against the St. Ambrose University Fighting Bees. The Yellowjackets were defeated in five sets, 2-3 and hold a 0-1 on the season.

Graceland (0-1) vs. St. Ambrose (1-0)
Set 1: Graceland 18 | St. Ambrose 25
Graceland would pull the first lead of the set, from a Brenna Crabtree kill and an Addison Demesko ace. The Fighting Bees would take the first scoring run (11-8) and a kill from Allison Long would break the run. Later in the set, the Yellowjackets would answer with their run with back-to-back service aces from Shelby Jabour (16-21). St. Ambrose would hold their lead to take the first set.

Set 2: Graceland 21 | St. Ambrose 25
Both teams would come out on fire and trade points. The Fighting Bees would produce a five-point jump to take the lead (8-11). The Yellowjackets would retaliate to tie with key points from a Brenna Crabtree kill and an Addison Demesko ace. St. Ambrose would grab five of the remaining eight points to take the second set.

Set 3: Graceland 25 | St. Ambrose 22
Graceland would come out in the third set to take the lead with a five-point scoring run (5-2) and would pull ahead by six points (13-7). The Fighting Bees would close the gap and take a one-point lead late in the set (20-21). Graceland would snatch the third set taking the last three points from a Sierra Kauweloa kill from Hailey Kauweloa and an Arissa Carpenter ace.

Set 4: Graceland 25 | St. Ambrose 17
The Yellowjackets continued their dynamic into the fourth set, both teams would go point for point. St. Ambrose would pull a lead of two over the Yellowjackets 14-16. The Yellowjackets would produce a dominating 11-1 scoring run to take the set.

Set 5: Graceland 10 | St. Ambrose 15
A point rally would kick off the final set. The Fighting Bees would get a two-point lead late in the set (12-9) and would snatch the final three points of the match for the victory.

Graceland Leaders -
DIGS: Shelby Jabour – 15
KILLS: Brenna Crabtree – 12
SERVICE ACES: Addison Demesko – 4
BLOCKS: Kayla Watanabe – 3

St. Ambrose Leaders –
DIGS: Meredith Siebers – 17
KILLS: Mackenzie Grafton – 17
SERVICE ACES: Skyler Kuntzman – 2
BLOCKS: Mackenzie Grafton / Ella Gatz / Hannah Sondag – 3

Up Next:

The Yellowjackets will be back on the court when they travel to Marshall, Mo. where they will compete in the Missouri Valley Invite on Friday, August 25. They take on the Friends (Kan.) University Falcons, with a start time of 5:00 pm and Tabor College Bluejays at 7:00 pm.

-Yellowjackets-