DULUTH, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris volleyball team found a good time to hit its stride on Thursday night with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-14, 25-20) sweep of the College of St. Scholastica in the UMAC Tournament semifinals. With the win, the Cougars now advance to the championship match of the UMAC Tournament, hosted on Saturday night by the University of Northwestern.

Led by Brenna Tinjum's 11 kills, Minnesota Morris was on fire with a .368 hitting percentage as a team. The Cougars had 41 kills and only nine errors, while adding in 11 service aces.

The tone for the night was set from the opening moments. Minnesota Morris flew out of the gates with a 6-0 start to the first set. Maggie Jones was in on a pair of blocks to start it off and Tori Everson had a pair of aces during that opening stretch as well. Another five-point run later in the set made it 12-3 and an ace from Tinjum put the Cougars up by double-digits at 14-4. St. Scholastica would get no closer than five points the rest of the way as UMN Morris cruised out to a 1-0 lead.

The second set was actually close in the early going, but the Cougars found a groove and pulled away to go on top, 2-0. The score was tied as late as 10-10, but a kill from Everson gave UMN Morris the lead for good. Three attack errors from the Saints followed as part of a 5-0 burst that made it 15-10. With the score 17-13, eight of the final nine points in the set went to the Cougars to close it out.

St. Scholastica tried to pull it together early in the third set, taking a 6-2 lead on Minnesota Morris and holding onto that four-point lead as late into the set as 15-11. The Cougars were not to be denied, however. An error on serve from the Saints opened the door for a five-point rally for UMN Morris to take a 16-15 lead. A bad set from Katie Brostrom put the Cougars up, 18-17, and St. Scholastica would not be able to pull even again. Tinjum supplied Minnesota Morris with three kills among the team's final four points to close it out.

Jessica Remer had a match-high 13 kills on the night, but no other St. Scholastica player had more than five kills. Tinjum had four aces to go along with her 11 kills on the night. Everson added nine kills, Mia Frick had eight, and Jones added six. McKenzie Newton passed out 32 assists and had eight digs, while Alyssa Ukestad led the Cougars with 11 digs.

Minnesota Morris will travel to St. Paul on Saturday night to face Northwestern for the UMAC title at 7 p.m.