Saints Volleyball Season Ends

NSO – NEWS RELEASE

MORRIS, Minn. (csssaints.com) – The St. Scholastica volleyball team saw its season come to an end in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament semifinals on Wednesday night with a five-set loss at the University of Minnesota Morris.

The Saints came into the match having not won a set against the Cougars in the two matches during the regular season. However, the Saints came out firing on all cylinders in the opening set with a .200 attack percentage and taking the set 25-19.

Morris used a pair of five-point rallies to take control of the second set and eventually win it 25-18. The Saints responded with their best set of the night with 19 kills and no attack errors for a hitting percentage of .514 to win the third set 25-19.

CSS then jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the fourth set, but Morris crawled back in to take a 12-10 lead. With the set tied at 15-15, the Cougars went on a 5-0 run and would force a fifth-and-deciding set 25-20.

In the fifth set, the Saints were out in front 8-6 when the teams switched sides. As part of a 6-0 run, CSS went up 12-7 and looked to be in control. However, the Cougars scored four straight points to make it 12-11. A Kariana DeYoung (Deer River, Minn./Deer River HS) kill made it 13-11 Saints. Unfortunately, from that point forward it was the Cougars that recorded three consecutive kills and an attack error by the Saints ended the match with Morris winning the final set 15-13.

Kortney Morrin (Grantsburg, Wis./Grantsburg HS (Northern State)) had 15 kills to lead the Saints. Noelle Elvehjem (Mora, Minn./Mora HS) added 11 kills and Amanda Belden (Esko, Minn./Esko HS) had nine kills. Erika Birkeland (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake HS) had 42 assists, while Alex Barsody (Onamia, Minn./Onamia HS) had a team-high 23 digs. Christaia Houser (Esko, Minn./Homeschool) had three solo blocks and two block assists. Abby Tietz had 24 kills to lead the Cougars.

The Saints fall to 0-3 in five-set matches this season and are just 1-6 in their last seven matches have gone more than three sets. Minnesota Morris moves on to play the University of Northwestern in the UMAC Tournament Championship on Saturday night.

The Saints will say goodbye to three seniors. Setter Erika Birkeland (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake HS), defensive specialist Tannyr Heyl (Ham Lake, Minn./Blaine HS (Saint Benedict)) and hitter Olivia Krejcarek (Manitowoc, Wis./Manitowoc Roncalli HS). The Saints finish with a 16-14 record.