MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris volleyball team won its home opener against Martin Luther College, 3-0 (25-22, 25-18, 25-20), in Upper Midwest Athletic Conference play Friday afternoon in Morris, Minn.
The win improves the Cougars to 5-2 overall and 1-0 in the UMAC, while the Knights drop to 1-6 overall and 0-1 in the conference.
Ella Johnson recorded the first Cougar kill to tie the opening set at 2-2. A block by Johnson and
Tori Scheler gave Minnesota Morris its first lead. The set remained close early, with
Bella Nelson,
Braxtyn Meyer, and
Natalie Wahl scoring on attacks. UMN Morris started to gain some separation after going on a 7-1 run, highlighted by kills from Nelson, Scheler, Johnson, and Nelson, along with a service ace from Wahl. The Knights erased the four-point advantage, tying the set at 19-19. The Cougars scored the next five points to reach set point after a kill from
Sella Fleming, an ace from Johnson, and MLC errors. The Cougars took the first set on a Martin Luther service error to win 25-22.
The Knights scored the first points of the second set. Wahl and Nelson responded with kills to level the set early. Points were traded early, with Wahl, Meyer, Nelson, and Johnson all scoring on attacks for UMM. A kill from Scheler gave the Cougars their largest lead of the set thus far at 12-9. Minnesota Morris continued to hold a three-point edge until another small rush pushed the lead to 19-14 after a Nelson kill. The lead continued to grow after the Cougars scored on kills from Meyer, Fleming, and Wahl. A block from Fleming and Meyer got the Cougars to set point. Just like in set one, a service error gave UMN Morris the win at 25-18.
Scheler started the scoring in set three on an attack set up by Fleming. Fleming followed with an ace to build the early lead. More kills from Nelson and Johnson, along with a block from Johnson and Scheler, kept the Cougars in front. The lead grew to four after Meyer scored on an attack and MLC committed an error. The Cougars pushed the advantage to seven after scoring seven of the next eight points, highlighted by kills from Meyer, Scheler, Wahl, and Nelson, as well as Meyer scoring off the serve. The Cougars held onto the lead, with Meyer ending the match with a successful attack to give UMM the 25-20 win.
Meyer, Nelson, and Johnson led the Cougar attack, recording 10 kills each. As a team, UMN Morris hit .217. Meyer hit .500, scoring on 10 of 16 attacks. Fleming set up the offense with 37 assists. From the service line, the Cougars had five aces, with Wahl pacing the team with two.
Defensively,
Rachel Bopp totaled 24 digs to lead the way. Fleming added 12, while Johnson and Wahl tallied 11 each. At the net, UMM had four blocks, with Johnson combining on three of them.
The Cougars have two more matches in the Minnesota Morris Quad tomorrow (Saturday). Minnesota Morris starts the day against Buena Vista University at 10 a.m. and finishes the day against Concordia College (Minn.).
