WINONA, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris volleyball team won its final two matches at the Sugar Loaf Classic in Winona, Minn., on Saturday defeating the College of St. Scholastica 3-2 (23-25, 22-25, 25-22, 25-22, 16-14) and Wisconsin Lutheran College 3-0 (25-17, 25-21- 25-23).
The Cougars started the match against St. Scholastica by taking the first three points, with a kill from
Braxtyn Meyer and an ace from
Sella Fleming. The Saints drew level with the next three points, but kills from
Ella Johnson and
Natalie Wahl restored the UMM lead. Points continued to trade hands, with
Bella Nelson adding a kill and
Oliviah Lorber recording a block. A kill from
Tori Scheler followed by a CSS error saw the opening set tied at 17-17. St. Scholastica started to gain some separation after scoring five of the next six points. The Cougars were trailing 24-19 before a four-point run with kills from Meyer and Wahl brought them within one. The Saints would score to end the rally, taking set one 25-23.
Minnesota Morris took an early lead with kills from Wahl, Johnson, and Meyer and a block from Meyer to put them up 4-2. Meyer restored the two-point edge with a service ace.
Clara Holden set up Scheler on back-to-back points, growing the advantage to 10-6. The Saints chipped away at the lead and took control at 16-15. UMM took the lead back after scoring the next five points, including a pair of aces from Meyer. CSS closed the set out on a six-point run to take set two 25-22.
Johnson scored the opening two points of set three. The Saints soon took a four-point lead. The Cougars responded by scoring the next five points, capped off by an
Ashley Rogers ace, to go out in front. When the Cougars started to extend the lead, CSS would gain that ground back. Kills from Wahl and Scheler made the score 19-15. The Saints pulled within two a few times down the stretch, but the Cougars held on to win set three 25-22.
Rachel Bopp started set four with a service ace. Johnson and Nelson scored on attacks to help grow the lead to 5-1 early. Nelson soon capped off another four-point rally for UMM with a kill set up by Johnson. The Cougars were in control for most of the set and strung together five points to go up 17-9 after another Bopp ace. The Saints chipped away at the lead and found themselves only down three at 22-19. The lead shrunk to two, but Scheler ended the set with a kill, tying the match after a 25-22 win.
St. Scholastica got out to a 7-2 lead to start the final set. Wahl scored on an attack to spark a four-point Cougar run to cut the deficit to one. Johnson scored back-to-back points to match the scoring pace of CSS. The Cougars tied the set at 11-11 after a Nelson kill. The Saints reached match point at 14-12, but UMM took the match by scoring the final four points, with Nelson recording the final kill to make it 16-14.
Minnesota Morris finished the match hitting .237, while hitting a match-high .333 in the final set. Three Cougars reached double-digit kills, with Wahl pacing the team with 16. Johnson and Nelson followed with 13 and 11, respectively. Fleming set up 36 kills. The Cougars scored off the serve 11 times, with Meyer leading the way with four.
Defensively, Fleming recorded a team-high 16 digs. Bopp, Wahl, and Johnson all followed with 15. At the net, UMM tallied two blocks from Meyer and Lorber.
In the second match of the day, the Cougars started against Wisconsin Lutheran by scoring the first four points. Johnson started the scoring with a kill, with Nelson also scoring during the rally. Three straight WLC errors pushed the lead to five. Midway through the set, a block by Meyer gave Minnesota Morris a 13-7 advantage. Points continued to trade back and forth, keeping the lead at six. Four straight errors from the Warriors had the Cougars three points away from taking the opening set. Minnesota Morris closed the set out with two kills from Johnson and a block from Lorber and Fleming to take set one 25-17.
The Warriors got out to an early lead in set two. Johnson had the first point for the Cougars in set two on a kill assisted by Fleming. Minnesota Morris was trailing by six before Meyer started a rally. She then scored off the serve twice, Johnson added two kills, and some errors by WLC put UMM in front after a 10-point run. The Warriors pulled within one and would later tie the match at 20-20. Fleming recorded a kill, then Wisconsin Lutheran matched it. The final four points came from the Cougars, with a kill from Meyer followed by two aces from her and then capped off by Johnson scoring again to give Minnesota Morris a 25-21 victory.
WLC started the third set on a 5-1 run. Minnesota Morris created a five-point run fueled by a kill from Nelson and an ace from Johnson to take its first lead of the set. The lead grew after another five straight points for the Cougars, with help from Nelson and Wahl on the attack. The lead did not last too long, as WLC would tie the set at 13-13. Lorber restored a two-point lead after being set up by Fleming. Points continued to trade, with everything still tied at 22-22. The next three points were all by service error. The Cougars claimed the final point to win the match 25-23.
In the final match of the Sugar Loaf Classic, the Cougars hit .173. The best set was the first one, where UMM hit .219. Johnson led the attack with 11 kills, with Nelson following with seven. Fleming assisted on 22 points, and the Cougars had five aces, four from Meyer.
Bopp led the defense with 12 digs. Johnson and Fleming rounded out the top three with seven and six, respectively. The Cougars tallied four blocks, with Meyer adding two from a solo and assisted block.
The Cougars compete next week at the Macalester/Hamline Tournament, with the first match on Friday, Sept. 11, at 5 p.m. against Augsburg University.
