LA CROSSE, Wis. - The St. Scholastica volleyball team battled host UW-La Crosse to five sets before finishing the day with a sweep of Martin Luther on Friday at the UW-La Crosse Tournament inside Mitchell Hall.
The Saints opened the day in a thriller against the Eagles, pushing the match to five sets before falling 3-2 (13-25, 27-29, 25-18, 25-22, 11-15). After dropping the first two sets, CSS stormed back with a dominant third-set performance, hitting .231 as a team, and carried that momentum into the fourth to force a deciding set.
Lindsey Baribeau (Biwabik, MN/Mesabi East HS) powered the attack with 14 kills and seven blocks, while
Natalie Yackley (New Ulm, MN/New Ulm HS) ran the offense with 44 assists and 15 digs. Defensively,
Bryn Ziegler (Hutchinson, MN/Hutchinson HS) anchored the back row with 30 digs, and
Cassidy Lustig (Ashland, WI/Ashland HS) chipped in 19 digs and seven kills. The Saints totaled 55 kills, 54 assists, and 100 digs in the hard-fought contest.
CSS bounced back in its second match of the day, sweeping Martin Luther in straight sets (25-16, 25-20, 25-14). The Saints were sharp offensively, hitting .299 as a team with
Ava Swangstue (Grand Forks, N.D./Red River HS) leading the way at 12 kills on a .733 hitting percentage. Lustig again made her presence felt with seven kills and three aces, while
Ava Decker (Rochester, MN/Century HS) added five kills and two aces. Yackley distributed 21 assists, and Kahl provided 11 digs as the Saints controlled the match from start to finish, finishing with 10 aces and 35 digs.
With the split, St. Scholastica improves 4-3 on the season and will continue tournament play on Saturday. Their first match is at 9am against Luther and then they will take on Monmouth at 1pm.
