Box Score

St. Paul, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris volleyball team ran their winning streak to six today, Sept. 14, with a five set win on the road at Macalester.

The Cougars have not lost since their trip out east to Springfield, Mass. earlier this month. With six straight wins, head coach Chad Braegelmann extends his tenure-long winning streak, but did suffer their first loss in 14 sets in the second of the match.

The Cougars had won 14 straight sets (including four straight matches 3-0) after their 25-21 win in the opener, but fell 14-25 in the second.  Minnesota Morris closed out the match with set scores of 25-20, 23-25, and 15-9 in the deciding fifth set. The match was the first five-setter of the year for UMM, and just the fourth all season that went longer than three sets.

Jordan Olerud (Redwood Falls, Minn.) led four players with double digit kills, finishing with 15 on 38 total attacks. Stephanie Schmieising (Melrose, Minn.) and Kaylie Clark (Garden Plain, Kans.) each finished with 11, with Allie Humphrey rounding out the front-line efforts with 10 kills on the night.

As a team the Cougars his .159, but in their third set win they had a hitting percentage of .304 and recorded 18 of their 25 points on kills.

Natalie Thomas (Champlin Park, Minn.) continued her strong play with 46 assists, as well as 17 digs in the back row. Brita Humphrey (Minnetonka, Minn.) was again the leader in digs, with 24 in the match.  Olerud with 13 and Clark with 10 each finished above 10 for the match, and logged double-doubles on the night.

The Cougar defense, twice held the Scots to a single set hitting percentage of under .100, including a .071 mark in the deciding fifth set, where UMM countered with 12 kills in 15 points.

The Cougars improve to 6-3 on the year, and will take the court next at the St. Benedicts Tournament this weekend.