Yellowjackets report: UWS volleyball wins road tournament match
Nov. 8—Third-seeded Wisconsin-Superior set up a shot at the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference tournament title and an NCAA tournament berth by knocking off No. 2 Minnesota Morris 3-1 (25-23, 15-25, 25-15, 25-17) on its home court on Wednesday, Nov. 8.
Wednesday's victory in the UMAC semifinals puts UWS into the conference title game at No. 5-ranked Northwestern on Saturday, Nov. 11.
On Wednesday in Morris, Minnesota, the Yellowjackets overcame getting outhit .182 to .144.
The Yellowjackets (19-10) used a six-point run early to take a 9-3 lead in the first set which proved fairly durable. The Cougars got within two points on multiple occasions but Maiana Stark's kill made it 24-19 and gave the Yellowjackets five set points. UWS used all of them but won the set on a kill by Ayla Oltmanns.
UWS had only six kills and nine attack errors as UMM evened up the match quickly in set two, but the Yellowjackets straightened themselves out in the third, posting the higher hitting percentage for the first time in the match. The Yellowjackets led 10-4, then 16-9 and 20-11 before closing out the third with a four-point run.
The Yellowjackets had similar confidence in the fourth, going ahead 12-4 and not letting the Cougars get within four points from there.
For the Yellowjackets, Oltmanns had a big night, recording a match-best and collegiate career-high 17 kills with a .361 hitting percentage.
Maiana Stark added 13 kills and Emma Crandell 12. Three Yellowjackets had at least 10 assists led by Colleen Claude's 19. Lizzy Schmidt added17. Libero Jenna Anderson had a team-best 29 digs to go with 11 assists. Three other players had at least 11 digs.
Already holding a 10-point halftime lead, Wisconsin-Superior hit the gas pedal on the offensive end in the second half, scoring 52 points in the final 20 minutes of a season-opening 88-73 nonconference victory over Macalester on Wednesday, Nov. 8 in St. Paul.
J'Vaun Walker had 26 points for the Yellowjackets on 9-of-17 shooting and made six steals.
Macalester opened the game on an 11-2 run, but UWS found its traction with three straight 3-pointers midway through the period, two of them by Reid Johnson and the third by Walker, to go ahead. All told, it was a 16-2 run for the visitors over about eight minutes of the first half that helped UWS take a 36-26 lead to the locker room.
In the second half, the Scots got as close as six points, but UWS held a lead in the low double digits for most of the period.
Three other Yellowjackets scored in double figures: T.J. Moberg with 19, Johnson with 17 and Joey Barker with 12. UWS was 16-for-29 (55.2 percent) from the field in the second half and 30-for-59 (50.8 percent) for the game. The Yellowjackets made 10 treys, with Johnson contributing four.
The Scots outrebounded the Yellowjackets 34-28 and made 12 threes to UWS's 10, but Macalester had 18 turnovers and UWS had just six.
UWS (1-0) will host the Merrill Thompson Classic as its home opener, starting with a Nov. 10 home game vs. Wisconsin-La Crosse.
