WHITEWATER, Wis. - The Minnesota Morris volleyball team will have a good time on their seven-hour-plus bus ride back to Morris after winning their final two matches of the UW-Whitewater Tournament, topping UW-Platteville in five sets and closing with a sweep of Franklin.

In their opening match of the day, the Cougars dropped the first set to the Pioneers of UW-Platteville, 25-21. They would win the following two sets (25-19 and 25-16) to take an edge in the match. In the second set, the Cougars jumped out to a 20-9 lead. The Pioneers pulled to within five at 23-18 before a Whitney Schwartz kill closed out the set. In the third, a 6-0 UMM run fueled a surge to a match lead. They ended the frame scoring seven of the final eight points.

The Pioneers took the fourth set, 25-19, to force a deciding set. Kills from Rachel Mathias, Tori Everson, and Layne Herrmann were part of a 5-0 Cougar spurt that gave them an 11-6 lead. UW-Platteville countered with their own 5-0 run to take it at 11. Teams traded the next six points. Back-to-back kills from Hailey Remme and Everson capped a 16-14 fifth set and exciting win for the maroon and gold.

Mathias led three Cougars in double figures with 16 kills. Herrmann added 36 assists. Alyssa Ukestad and Allison Yang collected 16 and 15 digs, respectively.

The Cougars had a much quicker time of things against Franklin, taking the match in straight sets by scores of 25-23, 25-23, 25-16. With the first set tied at 23, a Schwartz kill and a Franklin error gave UMM the first set. In the second set, with the Cougars trailing 23-22, A Remme kill was book-ended by kills from Everson to give the Cougars another tight set win. The third set was all Cougars as they led by at least five for most of the stanza.

Everson collected a double-double with 14 kills and 11 digs. Herrmann, who was named to the UW-Whitewater All-Tournament Team, added 34 more assists.

Minnesota Morris (3-1) is on the road again Tuesday for a match at Bethel.