ST. BONIFACIUS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris volleyball team took care of Crown College with relative ease on Thursday, calming the Storm by a score of 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-20). The Cougars now stand at 2-1 (2-1 UMAC) on the season.
UMN Morris hit .324 as a team on Thursday and were led by
Mia Frick. Frick had eight kills on nine attack attempts for an .889 hitting percentage. Thirteen of the 16 players who saw the floor had at least one kill for the Cougars.
Jenna Howden tied Frick for team-high honors in kills with eight, hitting at a .583 clip.
In the first set, a collection of three- and four-point bursts from Minnesota Morris set the team up with a 13-5 lead early on. Following two points from Crown, the decisive run for the Cougars came when they scored six unanswered to make it 19-7. Howden had three kills and
Maggie Jones supplied two in that span. Frick later added the final two kills of the set to close it out, 25-14.
Two aces from
McKenzie Newton and two kills from
Tori Everson were part of a 5-0 start to the second set for Minnesota Morris. Kills from
Paige Hinze and
Brooke Christensen pushed the lead to 23-11 late in the set. Though Crown managed a slight comeback before the set finished, the Cougars had no trouble pushing their lead to 2-0 in the match.
Minnesota Morris raced ahead, 6-0, in the third set only to see Crown come back to knot the score up at 8-8. Trailing in the set by a count of 18-17, the Cougars rattled off seven straight points to earn their first match point.
Brenna Tinjum had a pair of kills in that stretch of play. With the score 24-20, a block from
Kassidy Siedow ended the match and handed UMN Morris the sweep.
Alyssa Ukestad ended with a match-high 15 digs. Everson had six kills and six digs, while Tinjum added four kills and six digs. Newton ended with 29 assists to go along with four aces.
Sydney Eckhoff tacked on 10 more assists on the night.
The Cougars continue a two-match road trip on Saturday with a match at North Central University starting at 1 p.m.
