NEW ULM, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris volleyball team continued its solid form in road matches as of late with a 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-19) sweep at Martin Luther College on Friday night. With the victory, the Cougars improve to 10-12 (7-4 UMAC).

The first set was all Cougars almost from the start. Though Martin Luther enjoyed a brief lead in the beginning, the Knights ultimately committed eight attack errors while Minnesota Morris had zero in the set. With a 7-6 edge, the Cougars scored four straight that included two kills from Lydia Nash. In the late stages, UMN Morris tallied five of the final six points, including two kills from Maggie Jones for the finishing touches on the 25-15 victory.

Down as many as four in the early going of the second set, Minnesota Morris roared back with eight straight points to take a 14-9 lead on Martin Luther. Laura Wellbrock had a pair of aces in that span and the Knights compounded their problems with a number of errors along the way. MLC did manage to keep it close after that, but the Cougars finished the set off by scoring the final four points, including a block from Brooke Christensen, a kill from Anna Molstad, and an ace from McKenzie Newton.

The Knights didn't go quietly, leading for much of the third set. However, just as in the first two sets, Minnesota Morris eventually put together a run that Martin Luther could not match. This time, it came with MLC in front, 17-15. A pair of bad sets along with two attack errors were part of a five-point run for the Cougars to go up, 20-17. With the score 21-19 in favor of UMN Morris, the Cougars scored the final four points with two kills and a block from Jones.

Jones finished the night with eight kills on 11 attacks for a .727 hitting percentage. Wellbrock and Molstad each added seven kills and Nash chipped in with six. Newton had 22 assists for the Cougars, while the defense was led by three blocks from Jones and 14 digs from Alyssa Ukestad.

Minnesota Morris finishes its five-match road trip tomorrow at 1 p.m. in Mankato against Bethany Lutheran College.