MVC Round-up: Lady Vikings have 1-4 week

Senior Brittni Jessen buried 19 shots Tuesday during the Evangel volleyball team's 23-25, 25-15, 25-11, 25-17 Heart of America Conference win at Missouri Valley.

While the Lady Crusaders (14-3, 2-0 HAAC) enjoyed a .304 attack percentage, Valley's efficiency was .071. Senior Tricia Mowatt led the Lady Vikings with 13 kills.

Valley was coming off three straight weekend losses in the Morningside (Iowa) Tournament. After beating 1-9 York (Neb.), 25-13, 26-24, 25-10, behind 10 spikes each for Mowatt and sophomore Samantha Duquette, the Lady Vikings dropped four-game matches to Morningside, Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) and Sioux Falls (S.D.).

Senior Lindsay Tworek had 20 digs against the 13th-ranked Lady Mustangs (17-1), junior Paula Tieman made 16 saves versus the Lady Tigers (9-8) and senior Jayme Pettigrew hurt the Lady Cougars (11-8) with 18 kills. During the three losses, Valley's attack percentage was .113.

The Lady Vikings (6-7, 2-2 HAAC) compete in the St. Ambrose (Iowa) Tournament this weekend.

Men's Soccer

A two-goal halftime lead was good enough for the Missouri Valley men's soccer team Tuesday during a 2-1 non-conference home win over William Penn (Iowa).

Sophomore Eduardo Da Silva got it started for the Vikings in the 20th minute off a pass from sophomore Figueiredo. A minute before halftime, ball work by senior Carlos Arribas and freshman Mike Trench set up freshman Lewis Walker for a goal.

Valley's defense allowed the Statesmen (2-4) only one shot on goal, handled by senior Igor Lima, until senior Nik Rule connected with four minutes remaining in the match.

The Vikings (4-2-2) begin Heart of America Conference play Saturday at Avila.

Women's Soccer

LEAVENWORTH, Kan -- Senior Emily Owen missed the previous match with a dislocated shoulder, but was durable enough to be around in the second overtime period to get the "golden goal" for St. Mary (Kan.) during a 3-2 non-conference home decision over the Valley women's soccer team.

The Spires (3-3) led 2-1 at halftime, but junior Andrea Schaben found the net with 13 minutes remaining in regulation time. The Lady Vikings' first-half goal came from junior Jessica Yach, assisted by freshman Brooke Beatty.

Junior Hannah Harrison had 12 saves for Valley (2-5), which visits Avila for its league debut Saturday.

Cross Country

JOPLIN -- Junior Taylor Whitacre (20:36.58) finished 157th in a field of 359 runners Saturday as the Valley women placed 33rd among 41 teams in the 21st Southern Stampede at Missouri Southern State College in Joplin.

The Lady Vikings had two other runners in the top half of the field: freshman Natalie Cotto-Garcia (20:43.05) in 165th place and freshman Kristina Short (20:51.76) 176th.

The Valley men were 30th out of 35 teams, topped by senior Bernard Ronoh (26:25.96) in 128th place among 359 runners. Arkansas easily took both the men's and women's crowns.

The Vikings will next be in action Oct. 2 at the Emporia State (Kan.) Invitational.