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DULUTH, Minn. – The St. Scholastica volleyball team held off a game Martin Luther squad on Wednesday night in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament Semifinals at Reif Gymnasium, winning in three sets (26-24, 25-16, 25-19).

The victory for the Saints (28-6) is the 12th in a row and the 28 wins are the third most in program history. The Saints won 32 matches twice in the 1980s. Martin Luther's season ends with a record of 18-13. The Saints went 4-0 against the Knights this season, winning all four in straight sets.

The Knights led early on and held a 17-13 lead at one point in the first set. CSS climbed back in and took its first lead of the set at 20-19. With the score 24-21 Saints and after a Martin Luther timeout, the Knights scored three straight points to tie it at 24-24. However, a dump by #Sarah Kurtovich# and a kill by #Paige Hardy# gave the Saints the set win 26-24.

St. Scholastica then did not trail in the second set, scoring the first three points and never looking back to win 25-16.

The Saints jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the third set, but the Knights scored five unanswered to take a 7-5 lead. Martin Luther later led 18-14, before the Saints closed the match on an 11-1 run, including the final eight points of the match.

#Anna Zyvoloski# led the Saints with 18 kills. Paige Hardy (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing HS) added 11 kills and a team-high 13 digs for her 16th double-double this season. Sarah Kurtovich (Andover, Minn./Andover HS) had 31 assists and #Nikki Hughes# added 12 digs. Rebecca Engelbrecht led the Knights with 10 kills.

The Saints will host Northwestern College for the UMAC Tournament Championship and a NCAA Tournament bid on Saturday night at Reif Gymnasium. This will be the third straight year that the two teams will meet, with each team winning one. The action is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. and can be seen live, courtesy of the iFan Sports Network, at csssaints.com.