SUPERIOR, Wis.: The Yellowjacket volleyball team limited visiting North Central to a .044 attack percentage and hit at a .386 clip itself, sweeping the Rams Friday at Mertz Mortorelli Gymnasium.
 
The win for UWS (20-11, 14-2) secured the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Upper Midwest Athletic Conference tournament. The 'Jackets host No. 3 Minnesota Morris Wednesday at 7 p.m.
 
Taylor Howe (Webster, Wis./Webster) led all players with nine kills and Emily VerWay (Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Simley) added 31 assists and 11 digs for a double-double. As a team, UWS, which won its second consecutive match, collected 43 kills and made only nine errors on the night. Conversely, the Rams (6-24, 1-15) committed 16 errors to go with 20 kills.
 
After a back-and-forth beginning to the match, Superior extended a two-point advantage through 10 points with the next five points to take control of the set. Cami Sletta (Willmar, Minn./Willmar) capped the run with a kill off a feed from VerWay to make it 11-4. An Emily DiGiorio kill cut the lead to 14-10, but Superior reeled off the 11 of the final 13 points to take the set, 25-12.
 
The Yellowjackets led 7-0 in the second set before North Central took a timeout to try to stem the tide. VerWay's service ace forced the stoppage. UWS kept going, though, rallying for a 25-11 victory and a two-set cushion.
 
The third set was tighter throughout. After another Rams' timeout at 19-10, North Central closed the gap to 19-15 on consecutive Taylor Tody aces coupled with a UWS error and an Emma Middendorf kill. That was as close as NCU got. The Yellowjackets used two kills each from Jordyn O'Brien (Superior, Wis./Superior) and A.J. Runck (Annandale, Minn./Apple Valley) to close the set, 25-18, and claim the sweep.
 
Sletta and Brylee Colligan (Bemidji, Minn./Bemidji) chipped in with eight and six kills, respectively in the victory, while Doranna Blascyk (Hoffman, Minn./West Central Area) added seven digs.
 
The Yellowjackets honored their four graduating players VerWay, Blascyk, Ashlee Bayer (Cameron, Wis./Cameron) and Karlie Leif (Bemidji, Minn./Bemidji) in a senior night ceremory prior to the match.