Box Score MORRIS, Minn. - On Friday night the Minnesota Morris Cougars (18-7, 7-3 UMAC) took on the Martin Luther Knights (12-11, 6-4 UMAC).  Earlier in the season the Morris lost to the Knights 3-0.  Tonight would be a different story, as the Cougars would take the match 3-2, coming back from being down two sets to none. 

Before the game would get underway the Cougars would recognize their three seniors Brita Humphrey, Allie Humphrey and Michele Hanson.

UMM would start the night off battling back and forth with the Knights to gain control of the match.  Morris would pull ahead early in set one 7-4, before Martin Luther would come back and take a 9-7 lead before the Cougars would called a timeout.  B. Humphrey would help the Cougars get back in the game after following behind 13-9; the Cougars would come back and take the lead, thanks to a kill by Emily Auch.  The Knights would yet again comeback and tie things up with Morris at 18 apiece.   The Cougars would fight their way back into the game, tying it up at 24.  In the end the Cougars would drop the first set 28-26 to the Knights. 

Morris would try and regroup to try and take the second set.   The Cougars jumped out to an early 7 to 5 lead and tried to build on that lead, after a kill by Addie Vancura.  Morris would add to the lead even more eventually going up 14-9 before the Knights needed to call a timeout.  After the timeout the Cougars would stay on the attack, and building an 18-13 lead, but Martin Luther would battle back closing it to a 18-17 lead before a timeout was called by UMM.  The two teams would continue to battle it out as they would tie the game up at 22, before the Knights would take a one point lead.  After the Cougars final timeout of the set, they would tie the game up, and take a 24-23 lead.  In the end the Knights would take the second set 33-31.  The set would feature 18 ties, with only 7 lead changes.

Morris would try and find some momentum as they would head into the third set down 2-0, and again the teams would go back and forth staying within a point of each other for the first 13 serves before the Cougars were finally able to take a two point lead.  That lead wouldn't last for long, because the Knights again found a way to fight back and tie it up at 10.  Neither team would find a way to break away, as Morris would call a timeout with the score 16-15.  The Cougars would start to build momentum and make it a 21-19 game, before the Knights would call a timeout.  Following the timeout UMM would go on to take the third set 25-22.

The Cougars continued their comeback, taking an early 6-3 lead, as they tried to take control of the set early.  They would build that small lead to an 8-3 lead forcing the Knights to take an early timeout.  The timeout is what the Knights needed, as they would close to within one point. Jennifer Schmidt would have two straight kills, to put the Cougars up 13-11, following that Hannah Knott and Schmidt would get a block making it 14-11.  The Knights found another way to battle back tying the game up at 16 apiece.  The Cougars would then take control of the game, building a 21-18 lead, before Martin Luther would take their final timeout.  Following the timeout the Knights would climb back in it and tied the game back up at 21.  After an ace by A. Humphrey the Cougars would take a 24-23 lead, but the Knights stopped Morris right there and tied it back up.  Mandy Allman would then set up Auch for the final kill and take the fourth set 27-25.

In the final set, Martin Luther would jump out to an early 4-0 lead, before the Cougars called a timeout to try and slow the Knights.  Even with a timeout that wasn't enough to slow the Knights down, as they would go up 6-0 before UMM would use their final timeout.  Finally Auch would be able to get a point on the board for the Cougars.  That would then start the Cougars on a run of their own, making it 6-4.  After the teams would switch sides Martin Luther looked to take control once again with a 10-5 lead, before Morris battled back closing it to 10-9.  Auch got another kill and the Cougars took the lead 12-11.  The Cougars would eventually come back to win the final set 15-13. 

The Cougars were led by Auch with 16 kills, along with Kaylie Clark with her 36 digs.  Schmidt and Tietz added 15 kills and Addie Vancura had 13 kills, a season high. The 15 kills for Schmidt and the 13 for Vancura set new career highs for both players. Brooke Decker's 35 assists would be a career high for the freshman setter.

The Cougars will be back in action tomorrow morning at 11 am against Bethany Lutheran.

By Zach Bidwell