MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris volleyball team swept Crown College, 3-0 (25-10, 25-10, 25-22), in the home opener at James Gremmels Court on Tuesday night. With the win in the first UMAC match of the season, the Cougars improve to 8-4 (1-0 UMAC).

The first set tilted towards Minnesota Morris right from the start. Tied at 1-1, Crown committed a pair of attack errors and that was followed by consecutive aces from Mary Cate Ziembiec to give UMN Morris a 5-1 lead. The next four points all came from Laura Wellbrock and an Anna Molstad kill increased the margin to 10-3. Holding a 19-10 edge, the final six points of the first set all went to the Cougars, with McKenzie Newton contributing a pair of kills.

Minnesota Morris zoomed out to a 17-2 lead to start the second set and essentially put the set to rest right from the start. With the score 20-7 in favor of the Cougars, Lacie O'Leary and Tori Scheler combined for the final five kills to wrap up a 2-0 lead.

The third set proved to be a much tougher test. Crown led, 5-2, early on and scored four in a row late in the set to tie the score at 21-21. O'Leary took over from there with three consecutive kills and the match ended on a Polar attack error to close out the sweep.

O'Leary put together 11 kills and a .563 hitting percentage in just two sets. Ziembiec added eight kills and Molstad chipped in with seven. Newton finished with 15 assists in two sets, while Sydney Petersen had 11 assists. Ava Brunn led all players in the match with 16 digs.

Minnesota Morris stays at home this weekend for a pair of matches, beginning on Friday night at 7 p.m. with a contest against Northland College.