MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris volleyball team won its third straight match in three sets on Saturday, handling North Central University by a score of 25-9, 25-10, 25-15. The victory improves the Cougars to 3-1 (3-1 UMAC) on the season.
UMN Morris was unstoppable on offense with a .341 hitting percentage as a team. For comparison, North Central ended with a .000 hitting percentage for the match, ending with 13 kills and 13 errors on the day.
Tori Everson ended with 11 kills on 16 attacks with no errors. She was the lone Cougar to reach double-digits in kills, but she was far from the only weapon Minnesota Morris had on Saturday.
Lydia Nash (six kills on six attempts) and
Kennedy Geller (four kills on four attempts) had perfect days offensively and
Brenna Tinjum (six kills on seven attempts) wasn't far off.
Everson had three of her kills in an opening 8-0 start to the first set to set the tone. With the score 19-9 in favor of the Cougars, Everson had two more kills as part of a set-ending six-point run to close it out at 25-9.
Things weren't much better for the Rams in the second set as Minnesota Morris extended an 8-4 lead to 14-4 on the serve of
Hailey Remme. With score 22-10, UMN Morris ended things on a kill from Tinjum, a bad set from North Central, and an ace from
ShaeAnn Nelson.
In the third, the Cougars ensured that North Central would fail to hold a lead the entire match, though things were a bit closer for a little while. With Minnesota Morris holding an 11-9 advantage, the Cougars reeled off eight straight points with Nash supplying four kills, Geller two more, and Tinjum finding holes in the NCU defense for two aces. The Rams wouldn't get closer than nine the rest of the way.
The Cougar defense wasn't tested too much on Saturday, but
Jenna Howden led the way with 10 digs in the match. Tinjum,
Alyssa Ukestad, and
McKenzie Newton all had six digs apiece and Newton led the team with 26 assists.
Minnesota Morris comes back home to Jim Gremmels Court this week, hosting Martin Luther College on March 25 starting at 5:30 p.m.