Follow the Cougars on Twitter
Send Cougar updates to my email
Get Text Updates

NWC 3, UMM 0
UMM 3, UW-Stout 2

St. Paul, Minn. – Matched up with the UMAC leaders, as well as Wisconsin-Stout today (Oct. 21), the Minnesota Morris volleyball team came away with a split, falling 3-0 to host Northwestern, before coming back for a 3-2 win over UW-Stout in non-conference action.

After losing in four sets to Northwestern (22-2, 10-0 UMAC) in Morris just three weeks ago, the Cougars were less fortunate today and swept by scores of 25-21, 25-11 and 29-27. Against UW-Stout (5-20), Morris (14-11, 5-5 UMAC) came back from a 2-1 deficit to win the final two sets and take the match (25-21, 22-25, 15-25, 25-15, 15-13.)

Steph Schmiesing was the only player to finish with double-digit kills in each match, posting 11 and 13 respectively to lead the way. She was also the only player with over 10 against Northwestern, while Emily Auch led three players in double digits against the Blue Devils with her career high 17.

The Cougars posted 55 kills as a team against UW-Stout, their fourth best match of the season. Against Northwestern just before, though, they finished with just 33 as well as 21 errors for a hitting percentage of .098. In their first meeting with the Eagles, the Cougars hit .221, despite the loss.

Northwestern tonight had three players with 10-plus kills, with two of them hitting better than .400 on the night, as they won for the 17th consecutive time.    

Auch and Clark each had double-doubles against UW-Stout, with Clark posting a career high 33 digs, bettering her previous mark by 10, which she set just last week. It is also the best mark in the UMAC this season, while the Cougars team total of 106 is also a UMAC best.

Libero Brita Humphrey added 32 digs on the night, going over the 900 mark for her career, sitting with 910 in her three years with a chance to become just the 10th member of the Cougar's 1,000 career dig mark before season's end.

At 5-5 in UMAC action, the Cougars sit tied with Bethany Lutheran for the fourth and final playoff spot, with a head-to-head meeting waiting on the final day of the season.

First though, the Cougars will look to win their second straight when they head to Crown tomorrow for an 11:00 a.m. matchup.