GREENVILLE, Ill. – After five sets and two and a half hours, the Spalding University volleyball team saw their season come to an end falling to Westminster College, 25-17, 23-25, 13-25, 25-23, 10-15, in the SLIAC Tournament semifinal. The Golden Eagles finish the season with a 21-10 overall record and 13-5 mark in conference play.

Jessica Diehl led Spalding's offensive attack totaling 15 kills on 23 attempts with only two errors finishing the match hitting at a .565 clip. Alyssa Cosgrove and Victoria Heitzman also finished with double-digit kills. The freshman Cosgrove tallied 14 kills and Heitzman totaled 11 kills, and Katelyn Cosgrove facilitated the attack passing out 35 assists. K. Cosgrove also led the SU defense at the net finishing with three block assists, while Koti Weaver anchored the back row with 16 digs.  

Statistically, the Golden Eagles outhit the Blue Jays with a .184 hitting percentage to Westmin's .155. However, Westminster finished with a higher volume totaling 161 attacks to SU's 141 and finished with 60 kills to Spalding's 46 to combat the lesser hitting percentage.

Spalding took a 1-0 lead in the match after taking the first set 25-17. SU jumped out to a 10-3 lead fueled by a trio of kills by A. Cosgrove, Diehl and Heitzman. Back-to-back attack errors by the Blue Jays helped Spalding extend their lead to 10 points as the Golden Eagles cruised to a first set win. Westmin bounced back to take the second set tying the match at 1-1. It was a back and forth set that resulted in the teams playing to a 23-23 tie, but an Amanda Kiso kill took it to set point and a Victoria Heitzman attack error ended the set. The Blue Jays dominated the third set taking it 25-13 to pull ahead, 2-1. Westminster was aided by the Golden Eagles hitting a match-low .077. Spalding forced a fifth set by winning the fourth 25-23. SU trailed early in the set, but pulled even at 14-14 following Koti Weaver service ace, and would go on to take set on a Diehl kill. The Golden Eagles got off to a good start in the fifth set racing out to 7-4 lead following a Morgan Berning kill forcing WC coach Curtis Masden to call a timeout. After an exchange of points, Westminster's Ashley Kistaitis scored three points sparking a 5-0 Blue Jay run to make it 10-8. A kill by Katelyn Cosgrove would cut the deficit to one, but Westmin answered with a 4-0 spurt to put the set out of reaching eventually taking the set 15-10 to advance the SLIAC Championship game.

This will conclude Spalding's 2016 season. For the latest updates follow @SU_Volleyball on Twitter or visit SpaldingAthletics.com