ST. BONIFACIUS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris volleyball team rolled to a 3-0 win (25-13, 25-9, 25-12) over Crown College on Tuesday night, laying down 37 kills and committing only six errors. The Cougars notched their third straight win to move to 8-11 (5-3 UMAC) on the season.

The night started poorly for Crown as a service error started the match for the Polars, followed by an ace from Sydney Eckhoff and a kill from Lydia Nash for a 3-0 lead. The Cougars stretched an 11-7 edge to 17-7 in the middle of the set with Alyssa Ukestad supplying a pair of aces in that span. Minnesota Morris had no trouble from there in taking a 1-0 lead on the night. 

With the score 8-6 in favor of UMN Morris in the second set, the Cougars rattled off seven straight points and 12 of the next 13 to take command at 20-7. Eckhoff had three straight kills at one point in that stretch. At 21-9, Minnesota Morris scored the final four points of the set to take the 2-0 advantage in the match.

The Polars actually held an 11-9 lead over Minnesota Morris in the third set, but the Cougars rose to the occasion by scoring 16 of the final 17 points to complete the sweep. Macey Bosard had five kills in the set to spur the comeback.

Eckhoff and Laura Wellbrock tied for the match high with eight kills each. Bosard ended with five and six other Cougars had at least two kills apiece. McKenzie Newton ended the night with 25 assists and eight digs. Ukestad had seven digs and four aces. Brooke Christensen had three kills and led the Cougars with two solo blocks.

Minnesota Morris travels to the Twin Cities this weekend for a pair of matches. First up is a 7 p.m. matchup on Friday night at the University of Northwestern.