Red Devils Compete, Fall to Tigers on Senior Night, 3-0

EUREKA — Eureka senior Ariel Campbell (Decatur, Ill./Cerro Gordo) posted a double-double and fellow senior McKenzie Reiners (Milford, Ill./Milford) hit a team-best .263, but the Red Devils couldn't get past Iowa Wesleyan on senior night.

The Tigers held off the Red Devils in three competitive sets and secured a 25-18, 25-22, 25-22 sweep in St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play Wednesday at Christine Bonati Bollwinkle Arena

Iowa Wesleyan racked up 40 kills while hitting .163, outmatching EC's 27 on .062 hitting.

Lida Landre led the way at the net, posting 15 kills on 34 swings, while Anna Leidl and Paige Kammerer added eight apiece.

Ariel Smale distributed 22 assists, and libero Jenna Murphy came up with 25 digs.

For the Red Devils, Campbell posted a team-high 10 kills on 45 swings and contributed a team-high 13 digs. Reiners notched 11 digs, along with five kills, and Caitlin Miller (Washington, Ill./Washington) chipped in with eight kills.

Setter Katlyn Arrenholz (Delavan, Ill./Delavan), meanwhile, registered 21 assists and nine digs.

Despite not coming away with a set, Eureka closed out the first and third sets particularly well.

Trailing by 10 points in the first set, the Red Devils 5-1 run to make it a six-point match at 22-16 and kept it that way up until 24-18.

After close competition for most of the second, the Tigers took control late to seize a 2-0 advantage. With the match tied at 19-19, the visitors won four straight points and took six of the last nine to close it out.

But, in the third set, it was the Red Devils who put together the most impressive run.

This time, the maroon and gold were down 19-9 before pulling out a 12-5 run. During a 3-0 burst, Miller had back-to-back kills, followed by one by defensive specialist Paige Klingler (Newton, Ill./Newton). Klinger struck again in a 5-0 run, Reiners had back-to-back kills and Miller delivered an ace.

However, once EC closed the gap to two at 24-21, the Tigers capitalized on an attack error and service error to end the match.

Eureka (5-22, 2-14 SLIAC) will play the final matches of the 2019 season at Webster on Saturday, facing Webster at 11 a.m. and Fontbonne at 1 p.m.