Volleyball Falls in Regional Finals
MetroSportsReport.com
IOWA FALLS - Two key injuries caught up to the Kirkwood women's volleyball team Saturday.
The 13th-ranked Eagles, playing without Ady Wintermote and Brianna Eberhardt, lost to 20th-ranked Northeast Community College, 25-11, 19-25, 25-22, 16-25, 15-7, in the regional championship on a neutral floor in Iowa Falls.
Northeast advances to the NJCAA Division II national tournament. Kirkwood, which placed seventh in the national tourney in 2015 and 2016, finished the season with a 25-17 record.
Wintermote, who leads the Eagles in kills, missed her second straight match with a sprained ankle. Eberhardt, who leads the Eagles in digs, missed the last two weeks of the season with a concussion.
Kirkwood tied the match at 2-2 with a 25-16 victory in the fourth set, but Northeast dominated the final set for the triumph.
The Eagles defeated Northeast, 3-1, in the final match of the conference season on Oct. 25 to finish with an undefeated record in the ICCAC league, but the Eagles missed Wintermote and Eberhardt in the biggest match of the year.
Alexa Whipple led Kirkwood with 13 kills. Margaret Micka and Abbi Tunis had nine kills and McKenzie Petersen had eight.
Lauren Keane collected 34 assists. Micka contributed 15 digs and Tunis six blocks.
