Mustangs Fall to the Eagles to Open Weekend Tournament

DAVENPORT, Iowa | The Mustangs start their weekend tournament at St. Ambrose falling to the Eagles 3-2 in a back-and-forth battle. 

The Mustangs took an early loss in the match after falling in set one to the Eagles 25-12 as the Eagles had a .419 hitting percentage to open the match. Despite being down, the Mustangs battled back in set two, winning the set 26-24 to tie the match 1-1. Set three soon went to the Eagles 25-21 as they held the Mustangs at a .244 hitting percentage compared to their .250 hitting percentage. The Mustangs proved that they would not go down quietly as they fought point-for-point to take set four 28-26 after recording a set-high of 22 kills and a .275 hitting percentage, sending the match to a deciding fifth set. The Eagles went on to defeat the Mustangs 3-2 as they took set five 15-11. 

For the Mustangs, Mary Kate Bendlage led the Mustang offensive as she recorded 18 kills in the match, with teammate Jenna Brown right behind her with 16 kills of her own. Hailey Hested also had a remarkable match as she recorded 55 assists, placing her in the top seven of the school's all-time record for assists in a five-set match. 

The Eagles offense was led by Yomailis Fernandez as she recorded 17 kills and was hitting .200 in the match. Fernandez was followed closely by teammates Alyssa Gerzel with 16 kills and Jaclyn Riedl with 13 kills. 

The Mustangs will be back on the court on Saturday to finish out their weekend tournament at St. Ambrose, facing off against Viterbo starting at 12:00 PM and St. Ambrose with a match start time at 2:00 PM.