UWS Sweeps St Scholastica 3-0 In Volleyball

Sept 19, 2012

Northland Sports Online

What a difference a year makes.

In 2011, the Yellowjacket volleyball team played at St. Scholastica’s Reif Center and turned in arguably their most disappointing performance of the season, as the Saints swept them out of the gym in short order. On Tuesday night they went a long way toward rectifying that, and then some. In front of the largest crowd of the season at Mertz Mortorelli Gym, the Yellowjackets stepped on the throttle and never looked back, sweeping St. Scholastica 3-0 by scores of 25-12, 25-14 and 25-18 in the final match of the UW-Superior Triangle.

The victory, the first against St. Scholastica since opening day of the 2009 season improves the Yellowjackets to 12-2 on the year.

The Yellowjackets jumped out early in the first set. With the set tied 1-1, Kitty Tynen (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater), who enjoyed a big match for the Yellowjackets, held serve on five straight points to build the lead to 6-1. Later in the set, with the Yellowjackets leading 11-8, Farrah Wirtz (Esko, Minn./Esko) took the Yellowjackets on a 7-0 run to make the lead insurmountable. Junior Jessica Dvergsten (Greenbush, Minn./Greenbush-Middle River) finished off the first set with a kill, giving the Yellowjackets a 25-12 win.

In the second set the Yellowjackets picked up right where they left off in the first. Keely Deadrick (Esko, Minn./Esko) staked the Yellowjackets to a 5-0 lead. After the Saints broke the streak and got on the board, Tynen again went to work, serving five straight points to make it an 11-1 Yellowjacket advantage. The teams would trade points, and a Deadrick kill, on an assist from Lauren Peterson (Deer River, Minn./Deer River) would make it 17-4. The Saints called a timeout and came alive once they broke the huddle, going on an 8-2 run, but the damage had been done and the Yellowjackets closed out the second set, again doing so via a Dvergsten kill.

St. Scholastica took a 2-1 lead early in the third set, but the Yellowjackets came roaring back with Tynen serving and built a 6-2 lead. Later, with the Yellowjackets leading 7-3, Nikki Gosson (Mankato, Minn./Mankato East) served four straight points to stretch the edge to 11-4. The teams again scored back-and-forth, with the Saints pulling to within four points at 20-16. But back-to-back kills from Gosson and Tynen closed out the set, giving the Yellowjackets the sweep and the win.

Gosson led the way offensively for the Yellowjackets with a match-high 19 kills and a .594 attack percentage. Tynen was right behind her with 14 kills. As a team the Yellowjackets posted a .364 attack percentage, compared to just .182 for St. Scholastica. Deadrick led the Yellowjackets with 42 of the team’s 50 assists.

Defensively, Tynen and Wirtz tied for the team lead with 14 digs.

Anna Zyvoloski led the way for St. Scholastica, as she was credited with ten of the Saints’ 25 kills in the match.

Exhibition Results: Earlier Tuesday, the Yellowjackets defeated Lakehead University of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada by a 3-1 score in the first match of the day. Set scores were 19-25, 25-17, 25-23 and 25-20. St. Scholastica defeated Lakehead 3-1 in the second match. Both matches were exhibition, meaning that they will not count in the team records or players statistics.

The Yellowjackets (12-2, 0-0 WIAC) will enter WIAC play when they host UW-Whitewater on Friday, September 21. The Warhawks come into the match ranked No. 13 in the nation by the American Volleyball Coaches Association. Game time at Mertz Mortorelli Gym is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.

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