Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 ST. PETER, Minn. – Minnesota Morris (7-3) beat a nationally ranked team on Friday afternoon, marking the first time the Cougars have done so since playing at the NCAA Division III level. The Cougars swept #24 Augsburg College on Friday afternoon. They would drop their second match of the day, 3-1, to Buena Vista. TOURNAMENT WEBSITE

The match with Augsburg featured three sets all decided by just two points. In addition, the match had 20 ties and nine lead changes throughout the three sets. Emily Auch took 39 swings and led the team with ten kills. It was a balanced attack for the Cougars, who had four other players with at least six kills. Abby Tietz added eight and Marissa Ekness and Addie Vancura each had seven.

Defense played a big role for the Cougars, who racked up 56 digs and four blocks. They also had six aces and served tough in an attempt to get the Auggies out of system. Hannah Terhaar had 15 digs to lead the defensive effort.

Morris held a five point lead at 18-13 in the first set but Augsburg made a run, scoring the next four points in the set. UMM scored two quick points and forced Augsburg against the wall once more. After an Auggie service ace pulled them within one at 24-23, Chad Braegelmann used a timeout to settle the nerves of the Cougars. It must have worked because Tietz, who had just committed the service error, shook it off and got the kill that won the set.

Augsburg had the breathing room midway through the second set but the Cougars slowly clawed their way back and pulled even at 19. The two teams traded points but an attack error gave the Cougars a 23-22 lead and they would hold on for a 25-23 win in the set.

The Auggies again had a decent lead midway through in set three but again Morris found a way to battle back. Trailing 15-10 they rallied off five straight points to tie the set. They took the lead at 17-16 and held as big as a four point lead late in the set. Augsburg did their best to push the match to a fourth set, tying it at 24 and forcing the set to past 25 points. Kills by Auch and Vancura sealed the victory for Morris, 27-25.
The match with Buena Vista featured some close sets as well. Morris dropped the first set 28-26 but rebounded to win the next set 27-25. Buena Vista responded after dropping the second set and won sets three and four by the scores of 25-20 and 25-18.

Tietz led the way with a season high 14 kills and Auch was close behind with 13. Brooke Decker had a double-double with 22 assists and 14 digs. Ekness had five service aces to go along with five kills. Buena Vista had some fire power, hitting .288 in the match.

Tomorrow the day starts with a 10 a.m. match against Gustavus before batting Bethel at 2 p.m. Auch needs 20 more digs to reach 1,000 in her career.