Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 ST.PAUL, Minn. (csssaints.com) – The St. Scholastica volleyball team was victorious in their first game of the afternoon, recovering from their most recent loss to by defeating Moravian in four sets. In the second contest, the Saints would fall to Hamline in straight sets.

For CSS, Kortney Morrin (Grantsburg, Wis./Grantsburg HS (Northern State)) continued to play well, recording a team high 28 kills against Moravian. Erika Birkeland (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake HS) recorded 29 assists for the Saints in the victory as well.

The Saints fell behind 7-4 early in the first set against Moravian, and the teams exchanged points to push the score to 10-7 in favor of the Greyhounds.  CSS would respond, storming back to take the lead as the Saints took five of the next six points to take a 12-11 lead. Both teams would battle to push the score to 15 all, and Moravian would go on another run to bring the set to 18-15. The Saints would rally to tie the contest at 19, but the Greyhounds went on a 6-0 run to take the first set 25-18.

Set two would be a different story, as CSS took a quick 8-1 lead, led by three kills from Kortney Morrin (Grantsburg, Wis./Grantsburg HS (Northern State)).  Moravian made a push to bring the score to 10-6, and the teams would exchange points and bring the score to 13-8 in favor of the Saints. The Greyhounds would not go down easily, however, as Moravian then went on a 6-1 run to tie the set at 14. St. Scholastica would respond with a larger run of their own, as the Saints would take eight of the next nine points to push the lead to 22-15. During that stretch, four different Saints would record kills. The Greyhounds made a late push to give the Saints a run, but CSS emerged with the victory, 25-19.

St. Scholastica would dominate the beginning of the third set as well, jumping out to an early 7-1 lead as Morrin recorded four kills and Kayla Horbacz (Isanti, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti HS) recorded a pair of her own. The Greyhounds took four of the next six points to push the score to 9-5, but CSS countered with a 6-0 run to bring the score to 16-5. After a 4-1 Greyhound run brought the score to 16-9, the Saints went on another 8-1 run to essentially close the set, led by another four kills from Morrin. St. Scholastica would take the set 25-13.
The final set of the match saw the Greyhounds take an early 5-2 lead. The teams would exchange points back and forth until the Saints eventually took the lead at 9-8, guided by Morrin and Horbacz. Moravian then exploded for eight of the next 10 points, building a five point lead at 16-11. St. Scholastica would charge back to take six of the next seven points and tie the set at 17. The Saints would eventually take a 23-20 lead, but the Greyhounds desperately crawled back to tie the set at 24. The teams tied at 25 s well, but CSS would emerge with the win on a final kill by Taylor Orhn (Coleraine, Minn./Greenway HS) to give the Saints the set and match, 27-25.

In the second game, the Saints faced Hamline. The beginning of the first set was a back and forth battle, as the teams tied at one, two, three, four and six. After the Saints took a 7-6 lead, Hamline rallied to take 11 of the next 14 to gain an 18-11 lead. After Hamline pushed their lead to 23-18, CSS would rally and take four in a row, but it was too little, too late as the Pipers took set one, 25-18.

The second set bagan with a back and forth battle as well, with the Saints taking the early 5-3 lead. The Pipers quickly reorganized and went on a 7-2 run, with three different players recording kills. Hamline continued to apply the pressure going on another 6-1 run to build a 16-9 lead. After CSS took four of the next six to cut Hamline's lead to 18-13, the Pipers went on another big 7-1 run to close out the set 25-14.

The third set opened up with a 3-3 tie, but Hamline went on a 6-1 run to take an early 9-4 lead. CSS battled back to cut into the Piper lead at 10-7, but Hamline took seven of the next nine points to push their lead to 17-9. Both teams would battle to bring the score to 21-13, but the Pipers went on a quick 3-0 run to push the set to 24-13. The Saints would not go down without a fight, however, as CSS would rally to push the score to 24-19 as four different Saints, Horbacz, Erika Birkeland (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake HS), Noelle Elvehjem (Mora, Minn./Mora HS) and Jen Hortness (Little Falls, Minn./Little Falls HS), recorded kills. However, Hamline took the set and the match with a final score of 25-19.

The win against Moravian and loss to Hamline brings the Saints to 8-12 on the season (4-3 UMAC). Next up for the Saints is a trip to Crown as St. Scholastica resumes UMAC play  on the road next Friday evening.