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DULUTH, Minn. – The St. Scholastica volleyball team's season appeared to be coming to an abrupt end after going down two sets in an Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament semifinal on Wednesday night, but the Saints rose from the dead to eliminate the University of Minnesota-Morris in five sets and continue on.
Less than three weeks ago, the Cougars were in the same situation against the Saints in Morris. The Cougars led by two sets, but would end up falling in five sets. The Cougars would feel déjà vu again tonight.
Morris played nearly perfect early on as the Saints never had the lead after five points into each of the first two sets. The Cougars won the first set 25-22 and the second set 25-23. CSS had committed 14 attack errors in the first two sets combined.
In the third set, the Saints' season was on life support after falling behind 15-10. However, CSS would not be denied and crawled back to take a 21-20 lead. Morris responded and went back up 22-21, but the Saints recorded three straight points and ultimately forced a fourth set winning 25-23.
In the fourth set it would be all St. Scholastica. The Saints jumped out to a 10-3 and never looked back to win it 25-11 and send the match into a fifth-and-deciding set. CSS had 15 kills and zero attack errors in the fourth set.
The Saints kept the momentum going in the final set with the CSS faithful behind them and finished the fifth set by recording the final seven points to win going away 15-4. In the final three sets, the Saints recorded 38 kills and just four attack errors. They had just one attack error after the score was 10-7 in the third set.
Anna Zyvoloski (Sauk Rapids, Minn./St. Cloud Cathedral HS (Minn.-Duluth)) had a monster game for the Saints with a career-high 29 kills.
Taylor Tyllia (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS) also had a career high with 17 kills.
Paige Hardy (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing HS) added 10 kills.
Sarah Kurtovich (Andover, Minn./Andover HS) had a season-high 53 assists and
Nikki Hughes (Lake Nebagamon, Wis./Northwestern HS) had a career-high 35 digs.
Caitlin McKernon (Coon Rapids, Minn./Fridley HS) was also key defensively with six block assists.
The Saints move on to the UMAC Tournament Championship match on Saturday and will face a familiar foe as Northwestern College comes back to Duluth for the second straight Saturday and the second straight year in the UMAC Championship. The Eagles defeated Martin Luther College in four sets tonight. This will be the fourth straight meeting between the Saints and Eagles in the title match. The match is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Reif Gymnasium on the campus of St. Scholastica. The match will be broadcasted live on csssaints.com.
Volleyball vs. Minnesota-Morris Gallery