LA CROSSE, Wis. – The University of Minnesota Morris volleyball team split a pair of matches on Saturday with a sweep of Simpson College to start the day before a three-set loss to tournament hosts UW-La Crosse. The results leave the Cougars at 7-4 overall on the season.

At the conclusion of Saturday's action, Maggie Jones was named to the All-Tournament Team.

UMAC play begins on Tuesday night as UMN Morris hosts its home opener against Crown College at 7 p.m.

Minnesota Morris 3, Simpson 0
(25-23, 25-18, 26-24)
The first match of the day was a test despite the sweep for the Cougars. Simpson led by as many as five points in the first set before a five-point run from Minnesota Morris tied it up at 10-10. The Cougars then took a five-point lead of their own, only to see the Storm come back and knot it up three times in the late stages. With the score 23-23, Anna Molstad had a kill to earn a sideout and she then teamed with Tori Scheler on a block that brought the set to a close.

Ava Brunn began the second set with two aces and Minnesota Morris jumped out to a 7-1 lead, never trailing while going up on Simpson, 2-0. The Storm never got closer than three the remainder of the set and the Cougars finished it off with a kill from Laura Wellbrock and an ace from McKenzie Newton.

Simpson led early on in the third set before Minnesota Morris put six in a row on the board to take a 13-9 lead. The Storm surged late in the set with five straight points to tie things up at 21-21, but the Cougars were able to take care of business with kills from Lydia Nash and Wellbrock to wrap up the straight-set victory.

Wellbrock had eight kills in the match, with Molstad and Scheler chipping in with five apiece. Newton had 21 assists, while Brunn led the Cougars with four aces and 16 digs. 

UW-La Crosse 3, Minnesota Morris 0
(19-25, 19-25, 21-25)
Despite nine kills from Jones, Minnesota Morris couldn't slow down a potent UW-La Crosse offense and suffered the sweep to finish the afternoon.

The first set saw UW-La Crosse zoom out to an 8-3 lead. After Minnesota Morris clawed to within one, 17-16, the Eagles scored five straight and the teams traded side-outs the rest of the way as UWL went up, 1-0.

UW-La Crosse built as much as an 18-6 lead in the second set. Though the Cougars worked to within five, 23-18, the Eagles were able to finish it off from there to go up, 2-0.

Following that same pattern, UW-La Crosse went up 9-3 in the third set and kept Minnesota Morris at arm's length the rest of the time. The Cougars got within two on two occasions but the Eagles had the answers when they needed them. 

Besides the nine kills from Jones, Scheler had seven kills and Nash added five. Newton once again had 21 assists in the match and Wellbrock led the back line with seven digs.