MOORHEAD, Minn. – The Minnesota State University Moorhead Volleyball team edged out Minnesota Crookston (6-11, 2-7 NSIC) 3-2 in a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference match in Nemzek Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon. The Dragons won 25-16, 25-23, 23-25, 27-29, and 15-11.
MSUM is now 8-9 overall and 3-6 in the NSIC.
Junior captain hitter
Carly Masloski had a team-high 16 kills, three blocks and two digs. Junior middle blocker
Taylor Liesemeyer had a big afternoon hitting .321 at the net, putting down 11 kills. Liesemeyer also had one dig and one block.
Senior hitter
Tyann Caspers had 12 kills, two blocks and a dig. Redshirt-freshman middle blocker
Sarah Hagler hit .226 with 11 kills, and had a team-high five blocks and four digs.
Sophomore libero
Monica Vega racked up 44 digs, while redshirt-freshman
Makayla Wenzel had 53 assists to go along with 12 digs. Junior defensive specialist
Sydney Foss had 13 digs.
MSUM hit .194 as a team in the first set, while holding Minnesota Crookston to a -.147 hitting percentage. The Dragons built up a lead early on in the set thanks to kills from Caspers and freshman hitter
Courtney Selbitschka. Senior captain defensive specialist
Katie Meyers ended the set 25-16 with a service ace.
The second set proved to be a tighter contest. MSUM hit .216 in the second set, while UMC hit for .227. The Golden Eagles used a quick start to build up a 21-12 lead. The Dragons went on a 6-1 run before UMC called a timeout to try and tame the Dragons momentum. Hagler, Masloski and Liesemeyer had kills in that run. The timeout didn't slow down MSUM as they took seven of the next eight points to go ahead in the match 2-0.
The Golden Eagles battled back winning the next two sets to tie the match at two sets apiece. In the fifth and final set, the Dragons hit .231 while holding the Golden Eagles to just .042. An attack error from UMC gave MSUM the early lead. With the set tied at 4-4, an ace from redshirt-freshman hitter
Ellie Rutten and two UMC errors gave MSUM the lead for the final time. Kills from Liesemeyer, Masloski and Selbitschka secured the set and the match with a 15-11 fifth set win.
The Dragons return to action on Friday, Oct. 14 for a NSIC matchup at St. Cloud State. The match is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
