Red Wolves Split Day 2, Top Morningside in Straight Sets

NORTH SIOUX CITY, S.D. – The Red Wolves were able to leave South Dakota with a win on Saturday as they defeated Morningside in straight sets 25-23, 25-23, 25-21.

They dropped the earlier game against Rocky Mountain 3-0.

"I am disappointed in our performance this weekend," head coach Kim McConaha said. "We had a great opportunity to represent IU East and the RSC and did not take advantage. We lacked Discipline and fight this weekend."

In the win against Morningside, Jessica Swimm led the team with 10 kills. Tia Cooper and Teah Barrett Matthews were right behind with nine kills apiece. Brooke Lepper had seven kills and Reece Shirley added 38 assists. In the first set, both teams went back-and-forth trading leads. The Red Wolves scored the first three points in the first but it was quickly erased with a 4-0 run from Morningside. With IUE trailing 18-17 late in the first, a couple of errors from Morningside and a Barrett Matthews kill gave them a 20-18 lead. Morningside would counter but were unable to break through. Brooke Lepper scored the 25th point for the set win. 

Set 2 saw 14 ties as it went back-and-forth again. Late in the second, the Red Wolves trailed 21-20 but two more errors from Morningside and a block from Tia Cooper gave them a 23-21 lead. Barrett Matthews clinched Set 2 for the Red Wolves with a kill. 

Set 3 saw a lot less ties and lead changes from both teams. Tied 11, Morningside gifted the Red Wolves with two more errors and a 13-11 lead. IUE kept them at bay down the stretch with neither team going on a deep run. The Red Wolves scored the 25th point thanks to another error from Morningside. 

"I hope this is the wake up call this team needs to understand the importance of accountability and discipline. We have a short week before our Taylor tournament so we can only hit on a couple key components to improve. There were individual highlights with players. Our middle have done a nice job becoming more offensive minded. Freshman have stepped in to play major roles as well."

The Red Wolves will be back on the court next weekend as they travel to Taylor University for two games on Friday and two on Saturday.