DUBUQUE, Iowa – The Ripon volleyball team fell 3-1 at the hands of Loras College despite battling through three sets that were each separated by three points or less. Inesha Wiseman and Arynn Mathieu turned in 16 kills apiece to lead the Red Hawks, while Riley Nielsen turned in a 39-assist performance for just the fourth time in her career. 
 
Loras jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the opening set, but the Red Hawks closed the gap quickly, taking advantage of an attack error to pull even at 10-10. Ripon took their first lead of the night with a Wiseman kill that put them up 24-23, but Loras responded with back-to-back points to retake the lead. 
 
Ripon made it 25-25 before the Duhawks again put the Red Hawks against the wall, but Wiseman again came through with a monster kill to make it 26 all. Loras turned in back-to-back attack errors, paving the way for Ripon to come away with a thrilling 28-26 win to take a 1-0 lead. 
 
Loras bounced back in the second set, hitting .316 for the set to sprint to a 25-15 victory that tied the match at 1-1. The third set produced another tight battle, with Ripon outhitting and outhitting their hosts, but the Duhawks ended up with a 25-22 win to move in front 2-1. 
 
Neither team was able to pull away in the fourth set, with the biggest lead coming when the Red Hawks were in front 11-8. The set produced 13 ties after that point before Loras pulled off the final two points a big kill from Olivia Smith and a tandem block. 
 
The Red Hawks tallied 49 kills for the night, two shy of their season-best set back on September 10 against Maranatha Baptist. Additionally, Ripon nearly doubled their kill total from the previous meeting against Loras, which came on the first day of the year and saw the Red Hawks produce just 25 kills. 
 
Ripon is back in action on Friday evening, when they take on Cornell College for the second time this fall. First serve is slated for 7:00 p.m. from Mount Vernon, Iowa.