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Minnesota-Morris Box Score

ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – The St. Scholastica volleyball team went all of last season without losing back-to-back matches, but at Friday night's Blazer Invitational, hosted by the College of Saint Benedict, the Saints fell in both matches to St. Ben's and the University of Minnesota-Morris.

The Saints, who were ranked 25th in the nation last week, essentially dropped just one spot in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) poll, which meant it fell out of the top 25.

The Saints opened with the host St. Ben's, a team they just defeated last Friday in four sets at the Augsburg Tournament. Tonight, would be a different story as it would be the Blazers taking the match in four sets 28-26, 25-22, 17-25, 25-21.

Paige Hardy (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing HS) led the Saints with 16 kills and also 13 digs. Anna Zyvoloski (Sauk Rapids, Minn./St. Cloud Cathedral HS (Minn.-Duluth)) had 13 kills and a team-high 15 digs. Taylor Tyllia (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS) added 12 kills. Erika Birkeland (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake HS) had 44 assists and Nikki Hughes (Lake Nebagamon, Wis./Northwestern HS) added 13 digs.

The Saints then ended the night by falling to Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) foe University of Minnesota-Morris in five sets 23-25, 25-21, 18-25, 25-18, 15-7.

The story for the Saints was that Anna Zyvoloski (Sauk Rapids, Minn./St. Cloud Cathedral HS (Minn.-Duluth)) went over 1,000 career kills in the match. Zyvoloski finished the contest with a team-high 18 kills to give her 695 at St. Scholastica. She had 322 her freshman year at Minnesota-Duluth for a total 1,017 for her collegiate career.

Hardy had 12 kills for the Saints and is next on the list to reach 1,000 kills as she stands right now at 907 for her career.

Hughes led the team with 16 digs and Birkeland had 40 assists. The Cougars improve to 7-1 this season with the two wins this evening and will be a factor once conference play starts next weekend.

The Saints are without all-conference junior setter Sarah Kurtovich (Andover, Minn./Andover HS) this weekend due to an injury suffered during the St. Thomas match on Saturday.

The Saints (9-5) will conclude the invite tomorrow when they face Simpson College (Iowa) out of the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC). The teams last met in 2005. The match will begin at 9 a.m.