NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris volleyball team upset No. 25 St. Olaf College 3-2 (25-20, 18-25, 25-20, 9-25, 15-10) Friday evening in Northfield, Minn.
The win improves the Cougars to 8-4 overall, while the Oles drop to 9-4.
This is Minnesota Morris' first win against a ranked opponent since the 2018 season, when the Cougars defeated No. 8 Gustavus Adolphus College in the NCAA Tournament.
"We certainly established a presence in serve receive enabling us to run our offense well enough at the pace that we needed to be successful," said head coach
Joe Sussenguth. "Our net defenders slowed so many attacks down just enough for us to get second chance points. Certainly proud of our entire team for their contributions on the court and on the sideline."
Oliviah Lorber recorded the first kill for the Cougars, with
Braxtyn Meyer following to give UMM its first lead of the set. St. Olaf scored the next four points to take a three-point advantage.
Sella Fleming recorded her first kill to end the SOC rally. The next 15 points were traded back and forth, with
Ella Johnson, Lorber, Meyer and
Natalie Wahl scoring on attacks. Wahl scored back-to-back points to put the Cougars back in front, 15-14. The lead grew to four with help from Johnson and Meyer. A block from
Clara Holden and Fleming got the opening set to set point before Meyer sealed it with an ace, giving Minnesota Morris a 25-20 win.
Wahl scored the opening two points for UMM to give Minnesota Morris a one-point edge. Lorber followed with her first kill of the set. The Oles then went on an 8-1 run to gain separation. Johnson ended the run with a kill set up by Fleming. Holden followed with a service ace. Soon, the St. Olaf lead grew to nine. The Cougars started to chip away at the deficit with a block from
Tori Scheler and Lorber and some SOC errors to make it 17-12. Minnesota Morris then went on another four-point run highlighted by a kill from Lorber and a block from Scheler and Lorber, but it was not enough as St. Olaf took the second set 25-18.
The Oles got out to an early 6-1 lead in the third set, with Wahl scoring the lone point for the Cougars to start the set. Lorber put an end to the St. Olaf run after getting set up by Fleming. Minnesota Morris crept its way back into the set with help from Johnson, Fleming and Scheler scoring on attacks. Holden tallied another ace to tie the set at 13-13. UMM then scored three in a row to take a small lead. A kill from Wahl followed by a pair of Cougar blocks made the score 19-16. The Cougars held the lead and took the third set 25-20.
The Oles scored the first three points of the fourth set. Kills from Lorber and Scheler and an ace from Wahl gave the Cougars an early lead. St. Olaf then rattled off the next 15 points and won the fourth set 25-9.
Scheler started the final set with a kill. The Oles took the lead after scoring five unanswered points. Lorber ended the run with a kill and sparked a five-point Cougar rally. Scheler also contributed with a kill, while Lorber and Scheler combined on a block. The lead swung back to SOC at 7-6. Johnson scored on an attack, then
Rachel Bopp scored back-to-back aces to give the Cougars a two-point advantage. Minnesota Morris scored the final five of six points on kills from Johnson, Wahl and Fleming and blocks from Scheler and Fleming to win the final set 15-10.
Minnesota Morris finished the match hitting .163, with its best set coming in the final set at .364. Johnson led the attack with 13 kills. Wahl followed with 11 kills, while Lorber rounded out the top three with nine. Fleming had seven kills while hitting .500. Fleming also set up the offense with 41 assists. The Cougars tallied six service aces, with Holden and Bopp leading the way with two each.
Defensively, Bopp totaled a team-high 18 digs. Fleming and Wahl also reached double digits with 14 and 12, respectively. UMM had eight blocks, with Scheler recording a career-high seven, the second most in program history.
The Cougars have two more matches in the St. Olaf/Carleton Tournament tomorrow (Saturday) against Nebraska Wesleyan and Simpson College at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., respectively.
