SUPERIOR, Wis.: The UW-Superior volleyball team's season came to an end in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference semifinals Wednesday in a five-set loss to Minnesota Morris at Mertz Mortorelli Gym.
Up, 2-1, Minnesota Morris rallied to claim the final two sets and the match victory. The Yellowjackets fell by set scores of 25-19, 21-25, 21-25, 25-16, and 15-11.
Three Yellowjackets posted double-digit kill efforts led by Taylor Howe (Webster, Wis./Webster) with a match-high 20. Cami Sletta (Willmar, Minn./Willmar) had 13 kills and Ashlee Bayer (Cameron, Wis./Cameron) chipped in with 10, three digs and two blocks. Karlie Leif (Bemidji, Minn./Bemidji) paced the UWS defense with a team-high 24 digs and three others also recorded double-figure dig totals in the loss. Emily VerWay (Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Simley) closed her career with a double-double of 50 assists and 17 digs.
Superior ends the season at 20-12, having won 20 matches for the third time in head coach Lynne Deadrick's 16-year tenure leading the team. Her Yellowjackets were 21-13 in 2007-08 and 21-14 in 2005-06.
After dropping the first set, the Yellowjackets stormed back to win the next two. Down, 20-18, in the second set, UWS took seven of the final eight points to tie the match at 1-all. Howe had four kills in that stretch, including one for set point.
The 'Jackets jumped out to a 9-6 advantage in the third set, forcing a Minnesota Morris timeout. They had four consecutive points leading up to the break, but the Cougars battled back to take the lead by two, 15-13, before UW-Superior used an 8-0 run to take control of the set at 21-15. Three different players had kills in the skein. The set wasn't over, though, as Morris tallied the next five to cut the deficit to 21-20, forcing another UWS timeout. The 'Jackets came out of that break to earn the set win with four of the last five points.
Morris earned a 16-9 advantage in the fourth set and cruised the rest of the way to set up a deciding fifth set to 15. The teams traded blows though much of the early going as there were no fewer than seven ties. Knotted at 8-all, a kill from the Cougars' Brenna Tinjum followed by a service ace by Allison Yang and block from Morgan Miller keyed a four-point run to make it 12-8.
A VerWay block and Howe kill cut the lead in half to 12-10 as the Cougars burned a timeout. The break worked, as Morris earned three of the last four points of the match to advance to U.M.A.C. title match.
Tori Everson paced the UMM attack with 19 kills and 10 digs in the victory.
UMM improves to 21-11 on the season and will play for the right to represent the league in the N.C.A.A tournament on Saturday.
