PELLA — After a marathon opening set went against the Central College volleyball team, the Dutch were defeated in three sets by the University of Dubuque Friday night.
           
Central (14-4, 1-1 American Rivers Conference) and Dubuque (14-5, 2-0 conference) traded the lead eight times in the first set and were tied 12 times before Dubuque won it 30-28. The Spartans would go on to win the next two sets 25-22 and 25-17.
           
"I really liked the fight we had in the first set," coach Jeane Czipri said. "Even though we made some errors, we were aggressive and came out playing to win. As the match went on, I think we lost that a little bit. We started to get one dimensional on offense."
           
Three Central players were in double digit for digs, led by Colleen Kenney (sophomore, Taylor Ridge, Ill., Rock Island Alleman HS) with 21. Leslie Snow (sophomore, Olivia, Minn., BOLD HS) had 15 and Avery Rexroat (sophomore, Macomb, Ill.) had 13.                                               
           
"Leslie played some incredible defense tonight," Czipri said. "All three of them picked up a lot of balls that we needed them to."
           
The primary setter, Rexroat made 27 assists and added six kills.
           
"She's doing a really good job of trying to get our offense going," Czipri said. "We weren't able to showcase our offense tonight because we got one dimensional."
           
Gracie Daniels (senior, Broken Arrow, Okla.) had nine kills for Central while five players each had six. Snow had a pair of service aces.                                                                              
           
The Dutch host Loras College Saturday at noon.
           
"We just have to get balanced offensively again," Czipri said. "We need everybody to be good to be competitive against Loras."