WINONA, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris volleyball team began its season with a 1-1 day at the Sugar Loaf Classic, hosted by Saint Mary's University. The Cougars fell to Elmhurst University in four sets on Friday afternoon, but came back for a sweep of the College of St. Scholastica in the evening.

Play at SMU concludes tomorrow with a 9 a.m. match against Carleton College before Minnesota Morris meets the hosts at 1 p.m.

Elmhurst 3, Minnesota Morris 1
(25-19, 20-25, 19-25, 16-25)
A promising start to the day fell apart later in the match as Minnesota Morris hit .000 as a team in the third set and -.227 as a team in the fourth set, allowing Elmhurst to rally for the four-set win.

The Cougars jumped out an 8-2 lead in the first, and though the Blue Jays came back to knot the score at 13-13, UMN Morris scored eight of the next nine points to take a commanding lead and never look back.

The offense had its highest hitting percentage (.312) of the afternoon in the second set, but this time it was Elmhurst who took the early lead and Minnesota Morris was unable to ever pull even after four straight from the Blue Jays gave them an 8-4 edge.

Following a close third set that Elmhurst was able to eke out at the end, the Blue Jays scored the first seven points of the fourth set and cruised to the finish. 

Laura Wellbrock ended the afternoon with 10 kills. Tori Scheler added seven kills and Anna Molstad chipped in with six. McKenzie Newton handed out 13 assists in the match while Sydney Eckhoff added 11. Ava Brunn led the back line with 13 digs.

Minnesota Morris 3, St. Scholastica 0
(25-20, 25-23, 25-13)
The Cougars managed to pull out the first two sets over St. Scholastica despite committing eight attack errors in each set. Cleaning up that aspect of their game in the third set, the Cougars hit a whopping .632 as a team to close things out in dominant fashion.

The first set was tied as late as 18-18 before Minnesota Morris ran off four straight points, highlighted by a pair of Wellbrock aces. Mary Cate Ziembiec had the final two kills to secure the 25-20 victory to take the opening set. 

Minnesota Morris trailed St. Scholastica by four points on seven occasions in the second set, but turned things around with five straight points to go on top, 21-18. At 23-23, the Cougars went to a pair of seniors to close it out and Lydia Nash and Maggie Jones came up with the kills to make it 2-0.

The Saints tried to keep up with Minnesota Morris in the third set, but the Cougar offense was humming along to the tune of 13 kills on 19 attacks. A run of seven straight points from UMN Morris made it 21-11 and essentially put the match on ice, with Eckhoff providing two aces along the way. Madeline Monaco had a big set as well and her final two kills finished it off.

A balanced attack from the Cougars on the night featured eight kills from Wellbrock and six from Molstad and Scheler. Newton turned in 32 assists. Brunn once again played well for the defense with 18 digs.