MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin — The Ripon volleyball team opened its first road trip of the season on a high note with a pair of wins on Friday night at the Blue Angel Bash hosted by Mount Mary University at the Bloechl Center.
In the first match of the day, Ripon (3-3) took down Maranatha Baptist (0-1) in four sets by scores of 25-16, 25-22, 21-25 and 25-15. Against Rockford (2-1) in the nightcap, the Red Hawks were victorious in four sets once again – 25-16, 23-25, 25-18 and 25-21.
Leading the charge against the Sabercats in the afternoon was
Paris Croker, who had a career-high 18 kills in just her fifth college match. She hit a staggering .469 after attempting a team-high 32 attacks.
Lydia Ellis was also in double figures with 10 kills on a .348 clip.
Three Hawks garnered double-digit digs:
Haylee Kast (14),
Sam Thrasher (11) and
Bella Kasuboski (10).
Riley Nielsen had 26 assists for Ripon.
Each team had the same number of attacks (134), but Ripon had nine more kills than Maranatha Baptist (52-43). The Red Hawks hit .284 as a team.
In the fourth and final set of the nightcap against Rockford, Ripon held a slim 16-14 lead before rattling off five consecutive points, punctuated by a
Lainie Heizler kill, to gain a 21-14 advantage and help eventually put the set and match away.
Against the Regents, it was a balanced attack as Kast and Croker each had 10 kills.
Emily Braun had 37 assists to lead the Red Hawk offense. She also had a team-high 17 digs.
For the second consecutive game, both Thrasher and Kasuboski had double-digit digs as well, tallying 14 and 10, respectively.
As a team, Ripon had 45 kills to Rockford's 31. The Red Hawks also led in hitting percentage (.095 to .021), assists (42-30), total blocks (5.0 to 4.0) and aces (11-7) en route to controlling the match.
Ripon is back in action on Saturday (September 9) for two more games. The Red Hawks open the day against host Mount Mary at 10 a.m.
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