Kirkwood Volleyball

KCC volleyball team splits matches

EAST PEORIA, Ill. - The Kirkwood volleyball team split its two matches at the Illinois Central tournament Saturday.

The Eagles were trimmed by Illinois Central, 25-22, 21-25, 25-23, 19-25, 15-12, in their first match Saturday morning. They rebounded with a 25-23, 25-18, 25-23 sweep of East Central Saturday afternoon.

The split left Kirkwood with a 24-13 record.

Madsy Richards led the Eagles against Illinois Central with 14 kills and Erin Wenzel had 13. Halle Lueck rolled up 49 assists. Jenna Laxton contributed 13 digs and Wenzel had 10. Erica Armstrong blocked five shots.

Wenzel finished with 15 kills in the 3-0 victory against East Central. Richards had 10 kills, Alex Miner nine, Morgan Grimm seven and Armstrong six. Lueck dished out 45 more assists.

Eagles drop showdown with DMACC

Kirkwood's hopes of winning the conference volleyball title suffered a severe jolt Wednesday night.

The 15th-ranked Eagles were swept by No. 7 DMACC, 25-21, 25-19, 25-17, in an ICCAC match at Johnson Hall.

The DMACC Bears took sole possession of the conference lead with a 6-1 record with one match left in the league campaign. Kirkwood fell to 5-2 and could still tie for the league title, but needs help.

The Eagles battled the Bears on near-even terms for most of each set, but faltered down the stretch each time.

"We scored against them," said Kirkwood Coach Jill Williams. "I'm not going to roll over and say they're head and shoulders above us, but they were consistent and they bounced back."

DMACC has two All-Americans on its team with Taylor Case and Shelby Schouten, but the balanced Bears did not rely solely on their superstars. They got contributions up and down the lineup and appeared to be a little stronger than Kirkwood with kills, blocks, digs and unforced errors.

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Kirkwood falls to No.1 volleyball team

BOONE - The 14th-ranked Kirkwood volleyball team was swept by top-ranked Parkland, 25-12, 25-23, 25-16, at the DMACC tournament in Boone Saturday.

The Eagles topped Heston, 14-25, 25-16, 25-23, 25-23, to gain a split for the day.

Erin Wenzel led Kirkwood with nine kills against Parkland. Madsy Richards and Alex Miner had seven kills. Halle Lueck collected 28 assists. Jenna Laxton furnished 10 digs.

Wenzel slammed 22 kills against Heston. Richards had 12 kills and Morgan Grimm 10. Lueck rolled up 48 assists. Jenna Laxton had 21 digs. Miner blocked five shots.

The split left Kirkwood at 23-10 for the campaign.

No. 13 Eagles chasing ICCAC title

Erin Wenzel ranks second in the nation in kills, Halle Lueck ranks second in assists and they're both terrific leaders on the young Kirkwood Community College volleyball team.

Coach Jill Williams appreciates their good work, but she'll keep pushing her best players until the last day of the season.

"If anybody knows me - and they know me well - I'm still asking for more," Williams said Wednesday night.

Kirkwood has only three sophomores on its 15-player roster - Natalie Demmel is the other - yet the Eagles are ranked 13th in the nation in the NJCAA Division II poll and have a perfect 5-0 record in their conference after cruising by Southeastern, 25-6, 25-13, 25-11, in a 60-minute contest at Johnson Hall.

"When you're 13th in the nation with this many young kids and inexperienced players, if we can stay in the top-20 we're probably doing all right," said Williams. "We've taken a couple of lumps and had a few losses, but that's experience, that's learning.

"I think we're on track," she said. "Our main focus is to get better and we have a full month to still get better."

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