Reid Peters/Winonan
The No. 24 Winona State University volleyball team split a pair of games on the road trip finale last weekend, losing to No. 2 Southwest Minnesota State University 3-0 before defeating University of Sioux Falls 3-1.
Starting with a Friday night matchup against the No. 2 Mustangs, Winona State jumped out to an early 9-6 lead in the first set with a 4-0 run before the Mustangs fought back to tie things up 13-13.
The Warriors responded with a second 4-0 run to take a 20-17 advantage, but the Mustangs used a 4-0 run of their own to reclaim a one-point lead, 22-21 to force a Winona timeout. A final run by the Mustangs gave them a 25-21 first set victory.
Winona State started with another early lead in the second set, 7-3. The Mustangs then reeled off six straight points to take an 11-8 lead. McKenna Larsen had an ace to bring the set to within a point at 18-19 but Southwest pulled away for another 25-21 set victory. The Mustangs swept the match with a 25-15 victory in the third set.
“Southwest is a very steady team at a high level,” head coach Joe Getzin said. “They have won a lot of games and are always a good challenge.”
Taylor Goar and Maria Wrage tallied six kills while Maria Fruechte led the way for the Warriors with seven.
Larsen recorded 23 assists and nine digs, while Lauren Kudronowicz had five blocks and Jamie Cairncross added 10 digs of her own.
The Warriors battled back from a one set deficit to take down Sioux Falls 3-1 Saturday.
Maria Wrage had an efficient performance, hitting .750 with 12 kills on 16 attempts and no errors. The hitting percentage tied for the fifth-best percentage in single-match history that included a minimum of 10 attempts.
Winona State jumped out to a 16-6 advantage at the beginning of the first set with consecutive kills from Taylor Goar. Sioux Falls answered with an 8-2 run to cut the deficit to 18-14. The Warriors took a 21-14 lead and had three match points at 24-20, but the Cougars rallied back and took the first set 26-24. As a team, Winona State hit .135 in the set while Sioux Falls hit .178.
In the second set, the Warriors hit .393 compared to .000 from the Cougars and eventually claimed a 25-13 win highlighted by eight points in a row and a 9-1 lead. Winona State increased the advantage to 14-2 on a Kudronowicz kill and McKenna Larsen made it 22-6 before Wrage completed the set victory with a kill.
The third set began with another lead for the Warriors at 8-3, with the combination of Maria Fruechte and Taylor Goar finished the set off with kills to give Winona State the 25-17 win.
Winona State rallied back from an early 9-8 Sioux Falls advantage to take the lead for good. The Warriors finished the fourth and final set with a 25-20 win which would give them the match as well.
Sioux Falls recorded a .159 hitting percentage while Winona State hit .308 for the match.
Fruechte posted her second double-double of the season with 17 kills and 16 digs, tying a match-high, while hitting .406. Goar also chipped in 17 kills and hit .234 with seven digs to add to the Warrior effort.
Getzin said health was a key factor in the Warriors victory.
“Now that everyone is seemingly healthy, its just a matter of getting reps,” he said.
Larsen said although the team split the weekend matchups, it was still important to pick up a win.
“It’s extremely important for us to win one this weekend, and there is no reason we cant win both,” Larsen said. “We need to have a great week of practice and use our home-court advantage to our advantage.”
Winona State (16-9, 10-8 NSIC) will end the regular season next weekend with a pair of home games against Augustana University and Wayne State College on Friday and Saturday, respectively, in McCown Gym.
