Reid Peters/Winonan
The No. 25 Winona State University volleyball team earned a pair of road trip wins last week against Minot State and University of Mary.
The Warriors swept both teams for a combined 6-0 record for sets throughout both matches.
Winona took on Minot State Friday night and won in straight sets (25-12,25-19,25-22) at the Minot State Dome.
The Warriors outhit Minot .296 to .150 for the match. Contributing to that percentage was Danielle Rampart hitting .345, and Lauren Kudronowicz, who hit .308.
Rampart ended with 13 kills and 12 digs while Kudronowicz tallied 11 kills of her own to go with five blocks.
Minot hit .079 in the opening set compared to .355 from Winona State. The Warriors used a couple big runs to end up with a 19-8 lead, and eventually sealed the first set with a 25-12 victory.
The Warriors carried momentum into the second set, beginning with a 9-4 advantage. A Maria Wrage kill stretched the lead to 17-12, but an ensuing 4-0 Minot run cut it to 17-16.
Winona State eventually separated the score with a 25-19 win to go up 2-0 in the match.
The Beavers would put up their biggest fight of the match during the third set, which began with a 12-10 Minot lead. A burst from Winona State would shift the lead 16-12 in favor of the Warriors. Minot narrowed the Winona State lead to two on four separate occasions, but the Warriors did not budge and won the match with a 25-22 third set victory.
“We focused on our side of the ball,” Kudronowicz said. “We attacked the block and used their defensive weaknesses to our advantage.”
Junior Jamie Cairncross compiled a match-best 18 digs while McKenna Larsen added seven kills and 32 assists on .294 hitting.
Winona State completed its second sweep of the weekend after defeating the University of Mary on Saturday in Bismarck.
Maria Wrage hit .615 for the match while picking up a career-high 10 kills. Wrage had two errors and was the only player from either side to have double-digit kills.
U-Mary hit .097 compared to the Warriors .464 which ended in a 25-15 first set victory for the Warriors.
The second set included one error and 11 kills from the Warriors. The team hit .556 and ended the set with a 25-10 victory.
Winona State capped off the match with a 25-20 third set win.
“I think we’ve started to really develop the kind of attitude and mindset we want on the court. We’re trusting in each other to make plays,” Fruechte said.
Rampart, who hit .261, recorded eight kills as did Fruechte and Kudronowicz, who recorded hitting percentages of .286 and .438, respectively.
Winona State hit .370 for the match as a team, which is its second-best hitting performance all year.
“Our team goals are to play our game no matter what team is on the other side, out work our opponent defensively and let the opponent make errors,” Kudronowicz said.
No. 25 Winona State (11-7, 5-6 NSIC) will return home for three matches next week beginning Tuesday against Upper Iowa at 7 p.m.
