MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris volleyball team completed a thrilling reverse sweep over the College of St. Scholastica, winning 3-2 (22-25, 21-25, 25-16, 25-15, 15-8) on Saturday afternoon in Morris, Minn.
 
With the win, the Cougars improve to 9-8 on the season, while the Saints drop to 11-9.
 
Three of the Cougars' first four points came from kills by Tori Scheler and Bella Nelson. Mary Cate Ziembiec then scored back-to-back points to give UMM an early 6-3 lead. St. Scholastica responded with a 10-1 run to go up by six. Anna Molstad broke the rally with her first kill of the match, but CSS continued their momentum, pushing their lead to 17-9. The Cougars began to chip away with a 5-1 run, highlighted by kills from Scheler and Nelson and aces by Ella Johnson and Lexi Coon. Later, three straight points—two kills from Molstad and one from Braxtyn Meyer—brought UMM within one. Despite staying close down the stretch, the Cougars dropped the first set, 25-22.
 
Clara Holden opened set two with a service ace, but the Saints took the next four points to pull ahead. The Cougars' first kill of the set came from Johnson at 13-8, followed by another ace from Holden to close the gap. Many of UMM's points came from Saint errors, but the team struggled to string together a run. Two late kills from Molstad brought the score to 20-16. A 5-1 Cougar run, with kills from Holden and Johnson and aces from Holden and Meyer, cut the deficit to one. However, the Saints secured the final three points to win the set 25-21.
 
Minnesota Morris came out firing in set three. Johnson capped off a three-point run to start, followed by back-to-back scores from Ziembiec and two aces from Allison Dornseif to build a 9-2 lead. The Saints answered with a 7-1 run to close the gap to one, but UMM regained control with kills from Ziembiec and Holden. The Cougars finished the set strong, scoring nine of the final 10 points, with Meyer, Dornseif, Johnson, and Molstad recording kills. Meyer added two aces to close out the dominant 25-16 set win.
 
UMM continued its momentum in set four. After giving up the first two points, the Cougars went on a 6-0 run capped by a Scheler kill. Ziembiec sparked a seven-point rally with multiple kills to extend the lead to double digits. Later in the set, she added two more kills and then scored off a serve to give Minnesota Morris a 25-15 win, tying the match at 2-2.
 
In the decisive fifth set, the Cougars took the first two points before CSS responded with four straight to lead 4-2. UMM quickly regained the lead after kills from Scheler and Ziembiec, who then powered a four-point run to give the Cougars a 10-6 edge. Meyer sealed the win with three service points to close out the 15-8 victory.
 
Ziembiec had a career performance, tallying 21 kills. Molstad followed with 12, while Scheler, Johnson, and Nelson each added six. Dornseif and Holden led the offense with 23 and 21 assists, respectively. As a team, the Cougars recorded 15 service aces—Meyer with six and Holden with three.
 
Defensively, Lexi Coon notched a career-high 30 digs in the five-set match. Johnson and Ziembiec added 15 digs each. The Cougars also posted four blocks, with Meyer leading the way with three.
 
Minnesota Morris returns to UMAC action on Friday, Oct. 18, hosting the University of Wisconsin–Superior at noon.