The University of Mary Marauders’ volleyball team won its first conference match of the season 3-1 over Minnesota Crookston in an NSIC match played at McDowell Activity Center in Bismarck, ND.
The Golden Eagles looked poised to dominate on the road to start the first set. Minnesota Crookston jumped out to a 5-0 lead following three UMary errors and kills from Sydney Kruisselbrink (Soph., Rochester) and Kaitlin Sikkink (R-Jr., St. Charles). The lead grew to 6-1 after a kill by Porsha Porath (Fr., Windom). The Marauders responded by taking the next six points to stake their first lead of the set 7-6. A UMary service error tied the set at 7-7 and allowed the Golden Eagles to take five of the next six points including a kill from Lauren Wallace (R-Fr., Bloomington) giving Minnesota Crookston an 11-8 lead. Back-to-back kills by the Marauders’ Katja Berge (Soph., Hillsboro, ND) sparked UMary to take five of the next six points allowing the Marauders to take a 13-12 lead. Later in the set, with the Golden Eagles trailing 20-16, Minnesota Crookston pulled to within 20-19 after a pair of UMary attacking errors and an ace served by Katie Lienemann (Soph., Rosemount). Facing set point down 24-21, Deaira Gresham (Soph., Maplewood) kept the set alive with a kill followed by a Marauders’ error to continue the set before UMary’s Morgan Schnabel (Soph., Lehr, ND) closed out the set with a kill giving the hosts a 25-23 set one win.
In the second set, Minnesota Crookston again took an early lead with a kill by Callie Schapekahm (Sr., Eagan) closing out a 4-0 start to the frame for the Golden Eagles. With UMC leading 8-5 a trio of attacking errors from the Marauders along with two kills from Gresham and one from Wallace grew the Golden Eagles lead to 14-5. UMary tried to come back late with a three-point run pulling the hosts within 18-12, but UMC would not be denied with back-to-back kills from Deaiara Gresham and Lauren Wallace closing out the UMC 25-15 second set win.
In the third set, the Marauders opened with a 4-1 lead before a Porsha Porath kill and UMary error pulled Minnesota Crookston within 4-3. A kill by Kaitlin Sikkink (Jr., St. Charles) and another Marauders’ attacking error tied the set at 5-5. Trailing at 16-15, UMary took three-straight points including an ace served by Geovana Almeida (Sr., Santos, SP, Brazil) to give the Marauders an 18-16 lead. UMC tied the set at 18-18 following a service error and kill from Gresham. UMary responded with five of the next six points to take a 23-19 lead before a UMC kill by Callie Schapekahm pulled the visitors within 23-20. However, the Marauders took the next two points including a kill hit by Bailey Harms (Fr., Chaska) to close out the third set 25-20.
Looking to close out the match in the fourth set, the University of Mary picked up back-to-back kills giving the Marauders a 2-0 lead. Minnesota Crookston answered by taking the next four points to claim a 4-2 lead. Trailing 5-3, UMary took three-straight points including an ace served by Sydney Murphy (Soph., Bismarck, ND) giving the hosts a 6-5 lead. Tied at 6-6, the Marauders took four of the next five points capped off by a kill hit by Julianna Hughes (Jr., Lakewood, CO) giving UMary a 10-7 lead. The Marauders continued to pull away in the set with back-to-back kills giving the hosts a 12-8 lead and later a pair of UMC errors growing the UMary lead to 16-10. Later in the set, Geovana Almeida served another ace growing the Marauders lead to 19-13. Minnesota Crookston continued to fight with a kill by Kaitlin Sikkink and a bad set from UMary closing the visitor’s deficit down to 23-20. Three-straight Marauders’ errors tied the set at 24-24, but a kill followed by an ace from Katja Berge closed out the fourth set 26-24 and secured the UMary 3-1 victory.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| UMC | 23 | 25 | 20 | 24 |
| U of Mary | 25 | 15 | 25 | 26 |
For UMC
Kills – Deaira Gresham-12, Porsha Porath-10, Callie Schapekahm-8, Kaitlin Sikink-7
Blocks – Kaitlin Sikink-4, Lauren Wallace-3
Assists – Syd Kruisselbrink-36
Digs – Syd Kruisselbrink-14, Deaira Gresham-9, Katie Linemann-9
Aces – Syd Kruisselbrink-1, Katie Linemann-1
