sports

UMC VOLLEYBALL FALLS TO ROLLINS COLLEGE AND CSU-PUEBLO

September 4, 2021

The University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagle Volleyball team played better offensively but came up short in a 3-1 (25-20, 23-25, 25-20, 25-20) loss to Rollins College of Florida and led 2-1 before the wheels fell off, losing the final two games in a 3-2 (23-25, 25-20, 23-25, 25-12, 15-3) loss to Colorado State-Pueblo in the final day of the Colorado State-Pueblo invitational tournament.

GAME ONE –
Rollins scored the first point of the match with a kill, only to have UMC answer with a kill from Lauren Wallace and an attack error gave the Golden Eagles a 2-1 lead. It was a back-and-forth battle the rest of the way. The teams were tied at 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7 before Rollins rattled off three straight points for a 10-7 lead. UMC answered with a couple of points before Rollins answered with four more points for a 15-10 lead, forcing a Golden Eagle timeout. UMC slowly chipped away at the deficit and trailed 22-20 before Rollins finished the game with three straight points behind a kill, a UMC attack error, and a service ace for a 25-20 victory to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

GAME TWO –
UMC had a slow start in game two and trailed 2-0 before rattling off five straight points behind Kills from Natalie Koke, and Mara Weisensel for a 5-2 lead. The teams were tied at 5, 6, and 7 before UMC scored five points for a 12-7 lead. With Rollins trailing 15-12, they scored six points to take an 18-15 lead and it wasn’t looking good for UMC, who has struggled late in the games so far this season. The Golden Eagles answered with a kill from Lauren Wallace and got a point after a Rollins attack error to get within a two-point deficit. Rollins answered with two points before UMC went on a 5-1 run to take a 22-21 lead behind kills from Grace Arndorfer and Bailey Schaefer. Rollins answered with two points to take a 23-22 lead, but UMC finished the game strong with another kill from Lauren Wallace, a bad pass by Rollins for a point, and the Golden Eagles won the game with a service ace for a 25-23 victory to tie the match at 1-1. The game two victory was the first in eight tries for UMC this season.

GAME THREE –
Rollins came out strong in the third set and started on a 6-1 run behind four service aces! UMC finally figured out their serve receive and played even the rest of the set, but the early five-point deficit was the difference and Rollins won 25-20 to take a 2-1 lead in the match.

GAME FOUR –
The fourth set was more of the same as the teams exchanged points with ties at 4, 7, 8, and 10 before Rollins went on a 6-1 run for a 16-11 lead. UMC had four attack errors in the Rollins run. The Golden Eagles bounced back with a 4-1 run behind two kills and an ace, but Rollins controlled play the rest of the way and led 24-18. UMC tried a late rally with three straight points, but Rollins ended the match with a kill and a 25-21 victory, and a 3-1 match win.

UMC drops to 0-3 on the year and will take on the host school, Colorado State-Pueblo at 8 p.m.

Box Score	1	2	3	4
UMC	20	25	20	21
Rollins	25	23	25	25

UMC vs COLORADO STATE-PUEBLO –

GAME ONE –
The first game was as close as you get get with as neither team had a lead larger than three points.
Pueblo jumped out to a 2-0 lead to start the match and led 3-1 before UMC bounced back with back-to-back kills from Lauren Wallace to tie the game at 3-3. The Golden Eagles took the lead for the first time with a service ace from Layne Whaley. The rest of the match was an exciting one with the teams battling back-and-forth the rest of the way. They were tied at 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, and 13. Crookston took over with three straight points including two kills from Mara Weisensel. Pueblo battled back to tie the set at 20-20, but UMC responded with two straight points while taking advantage of a Pueblo attack error and they added a service ace from Natalie Koke for a 22-20 lead. Pueblo answered with two points off UMC errors and the game was tied at 22. The teams were tied again at 23 before UMC got two points off a Pueblo service error and an attack error to win the game 25-23, to take a 1-0 lead in the match. It was the first time in four matches this season that UMC had the lead in a match.

GAME TWO –
UMC took a 1-0 lead with a Charlie Krieg kill before Pueblo answered with two points for a 2-1 lead. After a Lauren Wallace kill, UMC tied the game at 2. The teams were tied at 3 before Pueblo went on a 4-0 run behind three kills, but UMC responded with four points of their own behind three Pueblo errors and a Wallace kill to tie the game at 7. The back-and-forth battle continued as Pueblo went on a 5-0 run behind two kills, two UMC errors, and an ace for a 12-7 lead. UMC, once again had an answer with a 6-2 run behind two kills, three Pueblo errors and a service ace to get within a 14-13 deficit.
Each team would go on small two or three point runs the rest of the way and Pueblo led 20-19 when they scored a point on a UMC service error and followed it up with a big kill forcing UMC to call a time out. The time out didn’t work right away because Pueblo served up an ace for a 23-19 lead. UMC bounced back and got a big kill from Charlie Krieg, but Pueblo kept the lead the rest of the game to win 25-20 to even the match at 1-1.

GAME THREE-
Game three was more of the same with the two evenly matched teams. Pueblo took a 1-0 lead with a kill to start the match and UMC responded with two points after two Pueblo errors. The teams were tied at 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, and 13 before Pueblo scored two points for a 15-13 lead. The teams exchanged points before the Golden Eagles went on a 5-0 run behind a Kill from Maria Jose Bustos Garcia, a Pueblo service error, and three attack errors for a 19-16 lead. Anybody watching the first two games wasn’t surprised that Pueblo answered with three points to tie the game at 19. The teams were tied at 20 when UMC had a big kill from Charlie Krieg and another point off a Pueblo attack error for a 22-20 lead. UMC kept the lead the rest of the way and won the game with a Bailey Schaefer kill for a 25-23 victory to take a 2-1 lead in the match.

GAME FOUR –
UMC had a good start to the fourth game, building off their third game win by jumping out to a 4-1 lead with a Lauren Wallace ace, two Pueblo service errors and a Mara Weisensel kill. Pueblo responded with an 8-1 run to build a 9-5 lead. The teams exchanged points and UMC trailed 10-7 when Pueblo scored two more points for a 12-7 lead, forcing UMC to call a timeout. Pueblo continued to build their outscoring UMC 10-1 after the timeout for a 22-8 lead. Pueblo held on and cruised to a 25-12 victory to tie the match at 2-2, forcing a fifth and final game.

GAME FIVE
Pueblo carried their domination from the end of game four over into game five as they jumped out to a 6-1 lead, forcing UMC to call a timeout. The timeout didn’t help UMC as Pueblo outscored the Golden Eagles 5-2 to take an 11-3 lead, forcing UMC to take another timeout. Once again, the timeout didn’t work as Pueblo was rolling as they had two service aces and got another point on a UMC attack error and led 14-3 and they were serving for match point. Pueblo finished off the come from behind victory with a Jazzy Espinoza kill for a 15-3 victory to win the match 3-2.

UMC drops to 0-4 on the year and will start Northern Sun Conference play on Tuesday, September 14 when they travel to Minot State University. Minot State is 0-4 on the season, including a 3-0 loss to #8 Washburn.