ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – The Quincy University women's volleyball team saw its eight-match winning streak come to an end Friday night, falling to Lewis University in four sets, 25-12, 25-23, 20-25, 25-20, in its GLVC opener.
The opening set was the exact opposite of how the Hawks wanted to begin conference play. Lewis jumped out to a 6-1 lead, forcing an early Quincy timeout as the Hawks struggled in serve receive. The Flyers continued to apply pressure with a 5-0 run featuring two service aces and three Quincy errors to stretch the advantage to 12-3. QU was unable to generate a run of its own and dropped the opener 25-12. Quincy hit .038 with six kills and five errors, while Lewis hit .400 with 12 kills and just two errors. The biggest difference came at the service line, where the Flyers recorded seven aces in the set.
The Hawks settled in during a back-and-forth second set. Lewis held a narrow 20-18 advantage before Quincy's offense caught fire, scoring five straight points behind three kills from
Selin Turgut and two from Monika Bíliková to move ahead 23-20. The Flyers answered in a big way, however, closing the set with five unanswered points behind four kills and a service ace to steal the frame 25-23. Quincy hit .267 with 15 kills and three errors, but Lewis countered with 19 kills on .311 hitting.
Quincy refused to go away in the third, jumping out to a 4-1 lead and maintaining the advantage throughout the set. Turgut powered the offense with six kills in the frame as the Hawks forced a fourth set with a 25-20 victory. Quincy hit .268 with 15 kills and four errors while holding Lewis to .205 with 14 kills and six errors.
The Hawks continued to battle in the fourth despite Lewis taking an early 4-1 lead. The margin never grew larger than three as the teams traded points throughout the frame, eventually reaching a 20-20 tie. Lewis once again found another gear late, using four kills and a service ace down the stretch to close out the match. Quincy was outstanding offensively in the final set, hitting .452 with 18 kills and four errors, while Lewis totaled 14 kills and hit .333. The service line again proved costly, though, as the Flyers recorded four aces while Quincy had none and committed three service errors.
Lewis finished the match hitting .302, the highest mark by a Quincy opponent this season by a wide margin, surpassing the previous high of .215 by Hillsdale. The Flyers also recorded 13 service aces, the most the Hawks have allowed this season, while Quincy's three aces were a season low.
Turgut turned in the best offensive performance of her career, finishing with a career-high 19 kills.
Macey Rocco recorded her seventh double-double of the season, while
Olivia Curry reached double figures in kills for the fourth time this year and surpassed 100 kills on the season. Bíliková also moved past 100 points for the year.
Quincy was unable to get its usual production from
Erin Matzke, who was held to three kills and hit -.071 with four errors on 14 attempts, her lowest hitting performance of the season.
The Hawks will look to bounce back Saturday at 2:00 PM when they take on No. 24 Indianapolis. The Greyhounds enter the matchup 11-1 after defeating Illinois Springfield in five sets Friday night to open GLVC play.
