10/19/07

Host Minnesota-Morris (6-20, 3-7 UMAC) enjoyed perhaps an unexpected lead with their game one win Friday night in Morris, Minn., but St. Scholastica (14-14, 7-3 UMAC) throttled the Cougars over the next three games, 30-19, 30-13, and 30-16, to cut Morris’ early joy off at the knees and capture the league match, evening the Saints’ season mark at .500 for the first time all year.

The 3-1 victory was highlighted by frontline Saints play, particular in defensive action where St. Scholastica registered 18.5 team blocks to dominate play at the net.

Junior Erin Niles had a pair of solo blocks and nine block assists to lead the Saints. Senior Alissa Johnson added a solo block to her six block assists, while juniors Shawna Varichak and Dustie Richardson each had one solo block with Varichak adding in five assists and Richardson picking up four assists.

Varichak had match-highs in both attacks (16 kills) and service aces (4). Setter Megan Baartman registered a match-high 26 assists for the Saints and teammate Kati Berscheit chipped in with 19 more for the Saints’ offensive attack.

The real story was net play, though, as St. Scholastica limited Morris to a 0.060 attacking percentage and only 39 kills in the match while the Saints piled up 55 kills.

The St. Scholastica win sweeps the season series between the two teams. The Saints will play Presentation College on Saturday afternoon in an attempt to also sweep that season series after an earlier victory in the Reif Gymnasium over the Saints from South Dakota.