MORRIS, Minn. - The Minnesota Morris volleyball team advanced to their fifth straight Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) championship match with a straight sets win (25-14, 25-12, 27-25) over UW-Superior Wednesday night in the semifinal round of the UMAC Postseason Volleyball Tournament at the PE Center.

The Cougars took control of the first set on a 6-0 spurt to go up 13-6. Bekah Morris delivered a service ace and Layne Herrmann and Rachel Mathias drilled kills during the stretch. The lead extended to 17-8 following kills from Marissa Ekness and Herrmann. UMM continued to extend the lead until Morgan Miller smashed a kill for the set winner.

Minnesota Morris built a quick double-digit lead in the second set. Mia Frick delivered three kills as part of a Cougar 9-0 run that gave them a 15-5 edge. Miller and Ekness closed out the set with block assists to give the Cougars a 2 sets to none lead.

The third set was a different story. UW-Superior stormed out to a 17-8 lead before the Cougars ran off eight straight to pull within one. Herrrmann delivered four service aces in the stretch and Ekness added a pair of kills. An Ekness ace tied the set at 19 and the teams would exchange the next 12 points to send it to bonus volleyball tied at 25. A kill from Frick gave the Cougars the lead and another Ekness ace closed out the set and the match in favor of the Cougars.

Ekness led all players with 14 kills. She added four aces and eight digs. Mathias and Frick had 10 digs a piece. Herrrmann totaled 40 assists and five aces to lead in both categories. Morris had 15 digs and Katie Reitsma was right behind with 14.

Minnesota Morris (26-7) moves on to the UMAC championship match Saturday night at No. 1 seed Northwestern at 7 p.m. Northwestern defeated Martin Luther in straight sets in their semifinal match.