SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - In a match that featured two teams tied in the Northern sun Intercollegiate Conference standings from a year ago, Sioux Falls needed all five sets to take down Minnesota Crookston on Saturday evening. The 3-2 (21-25, 25-23, 24-26, 25-21, 15-13) victory is the Cougars' second straight and puts them at 7-8 overall, 2-4 in the NSIC.
Four USF hitters tallied double-digit kills led by Kate Hart's 19 as the Cougars recorded a .259 attack percentage on the night. Six Cougars picked up at least six digs and Abby Folk reached double figures for the fourth straight match after she scooped up a team-high 14.
Paced by Minnesota Crookston's (7-7, 1-5 NSIC) workhorse Brittany Looker and her seven first-set kills, the Golden Eagles took the first stanza by way of a 25-21 score. The Cougars evened the back-and-forth set -- which would become a theme all night -- at 21-21, but a Looker kill prefaced three USF attack errors to hand UMC the first set.
After a quick three-point lead, the Cougars did not relinquish a lead in the second set en route to a 25-23 win. Hart was joined by three more Cougars with three kills apiece, as USF evened the match at one set each entering intermission.
The third set, which would only be a prelude to the neck-and-neck fourth, featured nine tie scores as the Golden Eagles took a 2-1 match lead with a 26-24 set win. The Cougars hammered 18 kills, four by Hart and middle blocker Jordan Calef who finished with 12 on the night, which led to a .405 attack percentage, but is was consecutive service error and return errors that led to USF's undoing in the third set.
In the fourth set, it wasn't until a three-point surge by the Cougars that a lead larger than one point was built as 13 tie scores and three lead changes in the fourth set gave way to a 25-21 fourth-set win by USF. After Sioux Falls established that lead, Emily Johnson smashed two of her 15 total kills to raise the Cougars past the Golden Eagles and earn a fifth set.
Again, neither team would budge in the final set, but stingy defense led the Cougars to the match victory when they held UMC to a -.067 attack percentage and a emerged with a 15-13 win. Hart again paced the offense with four kills in the final stanza as she finished with a .283 attack percentage on the night.
Kayla Crane and Sydney Schaap directed the USF offense with 27 and 26 kills, respectively. Samantha Lovell pitched in with 11 kills on the night and Michelle Ritland added nine to the Cougars' 69-kill total.
The Cougars continue their second week of consecutive home matches as they take on the University of Mary and Minot State on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 3 and 4, during the University of Sioux Falls homecoming weekend.
