SAN ANTONIO, Texas — No. 16 Dakota Wesleyan Volleyball completed its run at the Our Lady of the Lake Varsity Invite, capping off an impressive weekend with two match sweeps against Rocky Mountain and the hosting OLLU Saints.
In the day’s opening contest against the RMC Battlin’ Bears, the Tigers would take advantage of a few early scoring runs to grab control of the match. Evy Knoblock, Keatyn Liebsack, and Karly VanDerWerff got to work on offense immediately, with each finding openings in the RMC defense. Knoblock led the team with 14 kills during the match, along with 12 digs on the back row. Liebsack went on to record 13 kills, with VanDerWerff posting 11 of her own as the Tigers were able to outpace the Bears, eventually taking set one by a score of 25-19.
Madisyn Grimsrud was able to chime in with six kills of her own as Dakota Wesleyan kept their momentum through sets two and three, eventually winning the second frame 25-17, and completing the sweep by a score of 25-18 in set three. Presly Pastian posted 10 digs on the defensive end with Abby Zegar and Kayleigh Hybertson posting eight apiece, and Hybertson stayed busy on the offensive end with 38 recorded assists throughout the three-set contest. Sala Nu’u posted two service aces in her contributions, and, ultimately, the 16th-ranked team in the NAIA was able to roll to its third-straight victory.
On top of the team’s notable win, one of the program’s most notable contributors would make history during the contest. Mitchell native Lizzie Tyler ended the match with a career dig total of 1,787, becoming the program’s all-time leader, surpassing the mark of 1,785 set by Dena Kopfmann from 2005-08. The senior libero’s new number-one career dig total will continue to grow as the season progresses.
The Tigers would wait until the evening to face Our Lady of the Lake, but the downtime did not deter Dakota Wesleyan, as they were able to dominate the early portions of the first two sets of the match. The offense was led by the three-pronged attack of Knoblock, Grimsrud, and VanDerWerff, who combined for 20 kills throughout the match, with VanDerWerff’s .455 kill percentage topping the charts for the Tigers. The defensive effort matched the offense’s intensity with Tyler recording 16 digs, Pastian adding 11 of her own, and Zegar contributing six in three sets. DWU would win set one 25-14 and would carry that momentum into the next frame, going up 2-0 after a 25-15 set-two victory to set up the team’s fourth sweep in a row.
OLLU was able to mount an initial lead at the beginning of set three in a change-of-pace, but the Tigers were able to stabilize and even up the score through the middle portions of the frame. Hybertson posted 21 total assists, and Liebsack added four total kills to the offensive effort to help the Tigers pull back ahead, eventually rolling to a 25-20 victory to end the team’s time in Texas with a perfect 4-0 record. The Tigers won every set played over the course of two days, recording four consecutive sweeps to kick off 2026.
DWU Volleyball will be back in action on Friday, August 21st, as the team will head to Sioux City to compete in the Siouxland Invitational.