MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris volleyball team fell in its final two matches of the Minnesota Morris Quad, losing 3-0 (21-25, 22-25, 17-25) to Buena Vista University and 3-2 (25-13, 19-25, 25-19, 20-25, 10-15) to Concordia College (Minn.) Saturday in Morris, Minn.
Kills from
Tori Scheler and
Bella Nelson gave the Cougars their first lead of the set.
Ella Johnson converted an attack for her first point of the match. The lead grew to two after Nelson scored off the serve. A five-point BVU rally gave the Beavers a three-point edge.
Braxtyn Meyer ended the run, only for a four-point rally to start right after. Kills from Nelson and Scheler started to chip away at the lead, getting it down to three. Nelson sparked a three-point run to make the score 16-15. The Beavers would pull away again and take the opening set 25-21.
Scheler started the second set with a kill set up by
Sella Fleming. The first few points were traded between the teams before the Beavers went on a small run to go up three.
Natalie Wahl scored back-to-back points to get the Cougars within one. A kill and ace from Nelson kept Minnesota Morris close. A five-point UMM run tied the set at 17-17, highlighted by kills from Wahl and an ace from Johnson. The Cougars tied the set again at 21-21 after a Nelson kill and at 22-22 after Wahl scored on an attack. The Beavers scored the final three points to win the set 25-22.
Fleming started the third set with an ace. The Cougars built a three-point advantage with Johnson and Nelson scoring early. A 7-1 run by BVU swung the lead back to the Beavers. Nelson and Johnson scored on attacks to keep UMM within two points. The Beavers went on another 7-1 run to extend the lead to seven. They closed out the set with a 25-17 win.
Nelson led the attack with 11 kills while hitting .625. Wahl followed with eight kills, while Scheler and Johnson added four each. Fleming set up the offense, tallying 27 assists. UMM totaled four aces, with Nelson recording two and Fleming and Johnson adding one each.
Defensively, Johnson tallied 16 digs.
Rachel Bopp followed with 12, and Fleming had 11. Wahl and Meyer combined on a block.
In the match against Concordia, the Cougars got out to a quick start, scoring seven of the first nine points, with Wahl recording a kill and two aces. Kills from Nelson, Meyer, and Fleming kept the large lead intact. A block from Wahl and Scheler pushed the advantage to seven. The Cougars' lead grew to double digits after Fleming and Johnson converted attacks. Wahl closed out the set with a kill, giving the Cougars a 25-13 win.
The Cobbers started hot in set two, going on a 9-2 run. Nelson ended the rally and started a four-point Cougars run. Meyer, Nelson, Johnson, and Wahl recorded kills, but Minnesota Morris could not string together more than two points to cut into the lead, ultimately dropping set two 25-19.
Wahl and Nelson scored early in set three to start to erase the Cobber advantage. UMM scored four points in a row from Fleming, Meyer, and Wahl, capped off by a Johnson ace to put the Cougars in front 7-6. Points started to trade, but the Cobbers soon built a four-point edge. Meyer scored on an attack, leading to a four-point run that tied the set at 15-15. A block from Fleming and
Oliviah Lorber swung the lead back to UMM. Minnesota Morris held onto the lead and scored the final four points of the set, winning 25-19.
Lorber recorded her first kill of the match as the Cougars' first point of set four. Then, she and Nelson combined for a block on the following point. The Cobbers then went up 7-4. Johnson tallied another kill, then Concordia committed three errors, giving the Cougars the lead back. An ace from Meyer pushed the advantage to 14-12. An 8-1 run by the Cobbers put them up 20-15. They held the lead and forced set five, winning 25-20.
Wahl had the first point of the fifth set after being set up by Johnson. Just like in the previous sets, the Cobbers went up early. A four-point run with kills from Nelson and Johnson, an ace from Nelson, and a block from Meyer and Johnson swung the lead back to the Cougars at 7-5. The Cobbers answered by scoring the next five points. UMM pulled within one at 11-10, but CC scored the following four points to win 15-10.
Johnson, Wahl, and Meyer all reached double-digit kills. Johnson led the way with 13, Wahl added 11, and Meyer totaled 10. Fleming assisted on 37 points. The team scored off serves seven times, with Wahl pacing the team with three.
Defensively, Bopp had a team-high 17 digs. Johnson followed with 14, and Fleming rounded out the top three with 11. The Cougars tallied nine blocks, with Johnson and Scheler combining on four each.
The Cougars compete next on Tuesday at Crown College with a 7 p.m. start.
