The Lakers traveled to Rockford, Illinois for three days of tough competition at the Opening Weekend Tournament, the largest Juco volleyball tournament in the nation. The Lakers opened the tournament with a tough three set loss to region 4 Milwaukee Area, 21-25. 23-25, 18-25; before grabbing their first win of the season against Divison 3 opponent Joliet Junior College 25-12, 22-25, 23-25, 25-15, 15-12. "We opened up against a tough Milwaukee team that had some strong presence in the middle. Our offense was lead by two freshman outsides Alaina Hinders with 10 kills hitting .400, and Lily Kunselman with 9 hitting .429.with our defense lead by Lily Kunselman, and MaKenzie Uribe with 8 digs a piece, Jordan Grimes with 7 and Maria Fernanda Sanchez with 6. We met our hitting efficiency, kill per set and ace per set goals which was really nice to see. We put ourselves in a chance to win every set just needed to be more efficient to make it happen. In the second match of the night we jumped off to a great start in the first, making almost every goal. The second and third set we let them take the momentum and get back into the game, while finding a way to finish up in the 4th and 5th. You love to see a team earn an early five setter and figure out how to play through tiredness and adversity but I would have loved to see us find ways to close set 2 and 3, which were very similar to sets against Milwaukee. Hailey Shequen, Lily Kunselman, Kenzie Lee and Kajsa Bates all had around 10 kills, which was nice to see more spread out of our offense. We also had a very strong serving game," said Coach Erdman.

Day 2 saw the Lakers against an extremely strong Carl Sandburg team, who jumped on the Lakers for a 3-0 win, 25-13, 25-15, 25-16. Followed by #22 in the Nation McHenry County, who beat the Lakers in 4; 25-10, 25-19, 20-25, and 16-25. The McHenry match showed a great all around performance from Lily Kunselman with 9 kills and 7 digs; while back court leaders Lorin Turkdogan and MaKenzie Uribe added 14 and 12 digs of their own. "Day 2 was a lot more a challenge. The Chargers of Carl Sandburg had a very strong offensive game with outstanding outsides and great length in the middle. We struggled to find a way to stop their attack and gave up too many on effort plays. When you play a team with that kind of fire power you have to be playing your most efficient volleyball. During the McHenry match we showed a strong spark after starting out slow in the first. They ran their offense through two very strong middles and it took us awhile to begin to hold them back. I loved the life and fight we had in this match but again we needed to find away to put points away late in sets to put ourselves in the best chance to win," said Coach Erdman.

Day 3 the Lakers were met with two more strong opponents who each gave them three set loses. First the Lakers battled Kalamazoo Valley and lost 19-25, 17-25, and 23- 25; before falling to D2 dynasty and #5 ranked Parkland, 25-18, 25- 18, 25-10. In the Kalamazoo Valley match Kunselman lead the offense with 11 kills, while Uribe and Sanchez lead the defense with 17 and 14 digs respectively. In the Parkland match Kenzie Lee had 8 kills with Lorin Turkdogan added 14 digs. "Kalamazoo had a similar feel to Carl Sandburg in elite pins who we struggled to shut down. That is a big focus for us in the following weeks stopping their best and making teams score through other players. Parkland had a very well rounded team and it was clear why they get deep in the National Tournament on a yearly basis," said Coach Erdman.

"Overall I was very happy with our ability to play with teams at this high of a level, it shows a lot of promise for the season. We need to improve on finding ways to shut down key players, as well as finding ways to finish in sets we've kept tight. We learned a lot about our areas of growth and I look forward to seeing this team push to become better day in and day out," Erdman's closing thoughts.

Weekend Stat Leaders: Lily Kunselman 45 kills hitting .124, Morgan Wigg 30 kills hitting .211, Kajsa Bates 28 kills hitting .105, Kenzie Lee 26 Kills hitting .176, Alaina Hinders 26 Kills hitting .133, and Hailey Shequen 25 kills hitting .167; MaKenzie Uribe 68 digs, Lorin Turkdogan 54 digs, Maria Fernanda Sanchez 45 digs, Lily Kunselman 43 digs, and Jordan Grimes 36 digs; Maria Fernanda Sanchez led aces with 14, Lorin Turkdogan, Lily Kunselman and Jordan Grimes had 7 a piece, MaKenzie Uribe added 5, and Cattibrie Hysell added 4; Morgan Wigg brought along 8 blocks with Kajsa Bates adding 6; Lorin Turkdogan passed a 1.9 rating, with MaKenzie Uribe passing a 1.8 rating; Jordan Grimes led the team with 149 assists.

The Lakers are 1-5 and 0-0 in conference. On Wednesday, August 29th the Lakers travel to Worthington to take on Dakota Wesleyan University's JV and National Ranked Minnesota West Community and Technical College at 5:30 and 7:00 respectively. They look to find a way to pick up two wins and keep improving at the start of their season.

MEDIA: For more information, please contact Head Women's Volleyball Coach Nick Erdman at (712) 362-8375 or the Iowa Lakes sports information office at (712) 362-7928.