MINNEAPOLIS – The University of Minnesota Morris volleyball team challenged a pair of ranked opponents on Saturday at the Augsburg University Invitational. Though the Cougars didn't take a set off of either No. 17 Gustavus Adolphus College or No. 5 University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, they did battle throughout and came close to winning sets in both matches. The two losses send the Cougars to 2-5 overall on the season.

Minnesota Morris returns home to James Gremmels Court on Wednesday night to host the College of Saint Benedict at 7 p.m.

Gustavus Adolphus 3, Minnesota Morris 0 
(25-27, 17-25, 11-25)
After a first set that included some bonus volleyball to decide a winner, Gustavus Adolphus took control and swept the Cougars in the first match of the day.

The Gusties led by as many as nine points, 15-6, in the middle of the first set before a furious comeback from Minnesota Morris. After pulling within a point on five occasions, the Cougars finally knotted the score at 22-22 and then took the lead on a kill from Maggie Jones. A Jones block two points later gave UMN Morris a set point, 24-23, but Gustavus took advantage of a service error from the Cougars. With the score tied up at 25-25, back-to-back kills from Sarah Elliott and Kasie Tweet staked the Gusties to a 1-0 lead.

Minnesota Morris hit .216 as a team in the first set, but that fell to .104 in the second set and went down to -.103 in the third set. That helped Gustavus Adolphus as the Gusties had no such problems on offense. In the second set, an Anna Molstad kill brought the Cougars within two, 6-4, but Gustavus reeled off three straight points and UMN Morris would get no closer than three points from there.  The third set featured a quick 5-1 lead for the Gusties and then a seven-point surge at the end to bring the match to a close.

Jones finished the morning with eight kills and a .471 hitting percentage. Mary Cate Ziembiec added seven kills. McKenzie Newton notched 26 assists in the match and Alyssa Ukestad tallied 13 digs.

UW-Eau Claire 3, Minnesota Morris 0
(20-25, 19-25, 13-25)
Facing the defending national champions immediately after the morning match was done, Minnesota Morris pushed the Blugolds but ran out of gas as the day wore on.

A four-point swing for Minnesota Morris in the first set gave the Cougars an 11-9 lead before UW-Eau Claire answered back with five straight points. The Cougars remained within three points of the Blugolds most of the way after that, but could get no closer as UW-Eau Claire took a 1-0 edge. 

The Cougars once again had a two-point lead midway through the second set before UW-Eau Claire kicked it into a higher gear. A kill from Lydia Nash tied the set one final time at 16-16 before the Blugolds pulled away. The third set featured an early six-point rally from UW-Eau Claire to take a 12-5 lead and the Blugolds never looked back from there.

Nash and Wellbrock had six kills apiece to lead Minnesota Morris in the match. Newton had a team-best 10 assists and Ukestad added seven digs.