IW volleyball wins first game of year

BY ANDY KRUTSINGER

Mt. Pleasant News

The Iowa Wesleyan volleyball team finally got in the winner?s column on Tuesday night. The Tigers won a hard-fought five set game against Hannibal La-Grange University to move to 1-9 overall this season.

IW came into the game just three days after finishing up an 0-3 weekend against Spalding and Principia. The Tigers held a 2-0 lead against Principia Saturday before falling in the next three sets.

The Tigers came out with a ton of emotion in Tuesday?s win. The student section was rocking all game long with a little homecoming spirit. The Tigers jumped out to an early lead in the first set, and held off an HLGU rush to take game one 25-21.

Hannibal-Lagrange came out firing in the second set, jumping to a 17-11 lead halfway through the set. IW fought back and went on an 11-5 run to tie the game at 22 apiece, but the Trojans won the last three serves, and took the game 25-22.

The third set looked to be a carbon copy of the first, with HLGU starting the game off with a 7-2 lead. The Tigers played from behind all third set, and were unable to overtake the lead, falling 25-17.

HLGU scored the first four points in the fourth set, and IW had their backs against the wall, but thanks to an aggressive hitting game and great defense, the Tigers exploded, going on a 25-7 run and completely rattling the Trojans with a 25-11 win.

The Tigers found themselves playing from behind once again in the fifth and final set, but once again the team was able to keep their composer in front of the home fans. HLGU went up 5-1 early, but IW fought back to get within two at 8-6, when the teams switched sides of the net.

After the sides got switched, the Tigers went on a 9-1 run to close the game out with a 15-9 victory in the fifth set. Wesleyan?s win was their first game Oct. 25 of last year.

Next up for the Tigers is a doubleheader in Jacksonville, Ill., this weekend. Wesleyan will be looking for their first conference win against Webster at 5:30 p.m., followed by a non-conference game against Illinois College at 7:30 p.m.