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Morris, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris volleyball team cruised to a pair of victories tonight (Sept. 10) beating North Central University and Mount Marty College, each in straight sets.

Hosting a tri-match on the evening, Minnesota Morris (5-3) hit a season high .426 in their opening 3-0 win over hapless North Central.  The Cougars beat the Rams in straight sets winning 25-16, 25-10 and 25-13.

Leading the way for the Cougars tonight was freshman Kaylie Clark (Garden Plain, Kans.) who had a breakout game, finishing with 10 kills and a .409 hitting percentage. On the defensive end, Clark also brought up a team high seven digs.

 Adding to the stellar Cougar front line was Megan Theis (Shakopee, Minn.) with eight kills and .545 percentage, and Allie Humphrey (Minnetonka, Minn.) who banged down nine kills without an error while hitting .750.

Natalie Thomas (Champlin, Minn.) ran the offense to perfection and finished with 32 assists and six aces on the serve.

After hitting a .231 in the first set, UMM came back to close with back-to-back sets hitting over .500, capped by a .591 effort in the clinching third set.

After a break the Cougars return to action against Mount Marty to cap the tri-match. Five players finished with six or more kills as UMM beat the Lancers 25-15, 25-23 and 25-20.  The Cougars were in control all night, finishing the match in just over an hour.

Clark again was the pacesetter, collecting 13 kills against just two errors while hitting .423. She was outdone, though, by Jordan Olerud (Redwood Falls, Minn.) who hit .467 with eight kills and just one error. Olerud also finished with nine digs and one ace in an impressive all-around performance.

Theis and Stephanie Schmieising (Melrose, Minn.) each finished with nine kills and Humphrey notched six in the win. Thomas bettered her game-one performance with 43 kills against the Lancers, keeping the Cougar engine running smooth all night

Mount Marty was able to connect for a .387 hitting percentage in their narrow game-two loss, but in sets one and three the Cougars kept them below the .150 mark, including a -.121 in the opening set.

The Cougars improve to 5-3 on the season after and 0-3 start. After a 3-1 win on Sept. 4, the Cougars have won four straight by 3-0 scores, and have won 13 consecutive sets.

The next take their show on the road for a 7:00 p.m. date with Macalester on Sept.14. From there it's off to St. Joseph and the St. Benedict Tournament where they will play four matches over two days on Sept. 17 & 18. 

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