UWS Women Have Tough Weekend

NSO- NEWS RELEASE

The Yellowjackets made an early morning trip to the UW-Oshkosh Pizza Hut Classic in search of four victories and building on the momentum they started with a big win over St. Scholastica on Wednesday. On the docket were four tough teams at one of the bigger tournaments on the schedule, and unfortunately for the Yellowjackets, the trip was for naught as they dropped four matches at the Kolf Sports Center.

The Yellowjackets had a rough time on Friday, losing a one match each to Lawrence University and College of St. Benedict (Minnesota). Things didn’t get any easier on Saturday, as the Yellowjackets were bested by Martin Luther and St. Catherine. After a 6-4 start to the season, the Yellowjackets are below .500 and searching for a way to get back on track.

Lawrence University, a team that lost its first six of seven matches to start the season, beat our Yellowjackets in five sets. In their second match, Superior played the College of St. Benedict close for the first two sets, despite losing them, before getting toyed with in the third set to lose in three sets. To say the least, the weekend has gotten off to a bad start for our Yellowjackets.

Lawrence 3, Yellowjackets 2

Friday started with a match against Lawrence University, a team that lost six of its first seven matches to start the season. This match was close and back-and-forth throughout its entirety. While Lawrence jumped out to an early set lead with a 28-26 win to open the match, Superior battled back, tying the match with a 26-24 win in the second. Lawrence and Superior would trade the next two sets, setting the match up for a fifth and deciding game. In a match that would take nearly two hours to complete, one hour and forty-five minutes to be exact, Lawrence University came away with the victory.

The Yellowjackets were led by the usual suspects – Keely Deadrick (Esko, Minn./Esko), Stephanie Bandelin (Esko, Minn./Esko), and Chelsey Walerius (New Prague, Minn./Tri-City United). Deadrick played well, recording 48 assists and 17 digs. Bandelin had 18 kills and 19 digs. Walerius was solid defensively once again, recording 23 digs.

Despite the loss Superior got some positives out of the match.

Freshman Leah Nightingale (Dayton, Minn./Benilde-St. Margaret’s) saw a lot of action and had 11 kills and seven digs, season-bests. Staci Sjostrand (Grand Rapids, Minn./Grand Rapids), another freshman, had five kills and 10 digs for Superior.

Lawrence Univeristy was led by Terese Swords, Arianna Cohen, and Betsy Sorenson, who each recorded 14, 11, and 10 kills, respectively.

St. Benedict 3, Yellowjackets 0

Superior played St. Ben’s tough for the first set, but the Blaze took charge of things after that and completed the sweep.

After the first set, Superior managed to record a total of 22 points the next two sets.

In the first set, it was back and forth until St. Benedict managed to take a 23-16 lead. However, the Yellowjackets rallied by recording seven straight points to tie the set at 23-23. The two teams traded the next few points until St. Benedict won the set 26-24 to go up 1-0 in the match.
The second set wasn’t as close as the first. St. Benedict jumped out to a 14-7 lead, and never really looked back. Superior cut the lead to 16-11, but never got any closer. Superior lost the second set, 25-16. The third set was all St. Benedict. The Blaze jumped out to a 18-2 lead, including a run of 12 straight points. The Yellowjackets struggled to gain any sort of traction in the set and fell 25-6, and dropped the match 3-0.

Deadrick had only 19 assists in the match, her lowest total in a match this season, while Bandelin had only eight kills. Defensively Walerius had 12 digs.

St. Benedict had three in double-figures in kill – Laura Schmitt, Megan Franz, and Sophie Stangl (14, 11, and 10, respectively). Schmitt also had 11 digs. Victoria Nass led St. Ben’s with 17 digs.

On Saturday the Yellowjackets were looking to regain their winning form, but another pair of tough opponents found a way to extend the Yellowjackets’ skid to four.

Martin Luther 3, Yellowjackets 0

Martin Luther has been slow out of the gate this season, starting the year at 3-8. But you would never know it with the way they played on Saturday, as they took down the Yellowjackets by way of a 3-0 sweep.

Martin Luther got out to a fast start in the match, winning the first set 25-18. The second set was closer, with the Yellowjackets staying with Martin Luther every step of the way before dropping the second set 25-22. Martin Luther closed the match out by picking up a win in the tight third set, 25-21.

The story of the match for the Yellowjackets was the struggle on the attack. Superior made 18 errors during the match, and ended up with an attack percentage of just .100. Deadrick led the Yellowjackets with 26 assists. Bandelin again led the Yellowjackets with 11 kills, while Vicki Vinokur (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove) added nine. Walerius had 13 digs, defensively.

Meanwhile Martin Luther only had one player in double-figures in kills, (Kira Grev with 13) and Emily Neeb had 18 digs during the match. Miranda Maasz recorded 34 assists during the match to aid Martin Luther College.

St. Catherine 3, Yellowjackets 2

In the tournament finale, the Yellowjackets played arguably their best match of the tournament. And although they pushed St. Catherine to the brink the result was the same as the first three matches of the tournament.

This match went the distance, five sets, but St. Catherine earned the victory, 3-2.

Superior jumped-out to an early 1-0 set lead before St. Catherine’s responded. St. Catherine’s would also win the third set to take a 2-1 lead in the match before the Yellowjackets won the fourth to tie the match up, 2-2. However, St. Catherine University went on to win the fifth and last set of the match, 15-6 to earn the hard-fought victory.

Walerius benefited from the long match, recording 27 digs (tied for the match-high). Deadrick had a match-high 38 assists and Bandelin had 15 kills. Elizabeth Koza (Washburn, Wis./Washburn) also reached double-figures in kills with 10 for UW-Superior.

St Catherine’s was led by several players. Offensively, Amber Zeiher and Alyssa Besch had 15 and 13 kills, respectively. Also on the offensive side, Karsee Knuston had 30 assists and Ashley Kahlow had 21 assists, accounting for all but three of the team’s assists during the match. Defensively, Shanee Herd led the team with 27 digs, while Megan Lindenfelser, Abigail Palmer, and Knutson each recorded 12, 11, and 10 digs, respectively.

With the losses on the weekend, the Yellowjackets fall to 6-8 on the season. But plenty of matches remain. They’ll be in action again next Friday and Saturday (September 19-20) with a tournament in Ripon, Wisconsin. There, the Yellowjackets will take on the University of Dubuque, Saint Mary’s University and the Milwaukee School of Engineering in addition to the hosts from Ripon.