UWS Volleyball Wins Fourth Straight

NSO – NEWS RELEASE

SUPERIOR, Wis. – The Yellowjacket volleyball team opened October with a straight-sets win over Crown, and then followed that with a pair of losses, falling to Minnesota Morris and Northwestern, the latter of which was a 3-0 sweep at the hands of one of the top-ranked teams in the country.

Something changed after that match, however, and since then the Yellowjackets have been rolling.

Saturday afternoon the Yellowjackets took on a Martin Luther team that had swept them earlier in the year, and on their home turf the ‘Jackets turned in one of their best performances of the season.

For the second straight match, the Yellowjackets employed a balanced attack and quickly defeated the Knights 3-0. Set scores were 25-9, 25-14 and 25-19. The victory was the fourth in a row for the Yellowjackets (9-13, 7-3 UMAC), who are currently in a three-way tie for second place in the UMAC with Minnesota Morris and Martin Luther.

It was all Yellowjackets early, as they steamrolled through the Knights in the opening set. Jordyn O’Brien (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) kicked off the festivities with a kill and the ‘Jackets took off from there. Strong offense coupled with a Martin Luther attack that fired at a negative clip helped the ‘Jackets go on a 6-0 run to break a 3-3 tie. The offense just kept on coming and the ‘Jackets took the final five points to run away with the frame by 16 points.

The Yellowjackets opened the second set in much the same fashion, jumping out to an early lead. Alexie Pryd (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove Senior) and O’Brien combined for four kills early in the set. Martin Luther came back and took the lead in the set, but the Yellowjackets again got on a run, taking five of six points to pull ahead 13-8. The Knights closed the gap to 18-14, but it was all Yellowjackets the rest of the way. Hailey Atwood (Big Lake, Minn./Big Lake) got to the service line at 19-14 and never left, serving the ‘Jackets through the remainder of the set and putting them up 2-0 in the match.

Martin Luther came out firing in the third set, taking the first four points to get the early lead. The ‘Jackets battled back and tied the set 7-7 when Maiana Stark (Germantown, Wis./Germantown) and Kaylin Plautz (Elk River, Minn./Elk River) combined on a block. The set stayed tight until the Yellowjackets opened up a late lead at 18-15. The Knights stopped the bleeding with one point, but the ‘Jackets followed with a 5-0 run to put the win within reach. With the score 23-17 Pryd and Plautz dropped back-to-back kills to give the Yellowjackets the set and the match.

Stark paced the Yellowjacket offense with a team-high 13 kills. Pryd added 11 kills as well as a team-high 19 digs. She attacked at a .292 clip. As a team the Yellowjackets posted a .257 attack percentage.

Megan Holz (Savage, Minn./Burnsville Senior) dished out 26 assists to go along with three kills and 11 digs. Freshman libero Jenna Anderson (Bemidji, Minn./Bemidji) chipped in 13 digs.

The Yellowjackets will now head back out on the road for three matches beginning Tuesday, Oct. 19 when they cross the bridge to take on St. Scholastica. The opening serve is set for 7 p.m. at Reif Gymnasium in Duluth.