ST. BONIFACIUS, Minn. -- The UW-Superior volleyball team needed just an hour to sweep Crown in Upper Midwest Athletic Conference action on Thursday at the Wild Athletic Center.
 
The Yellowjackets won, 25-11, 25-15, 25-13, to improve to 15-11 overall and 11-2 in the league. With the win, UWS secures the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament and will host third-seeded Minnesota Morris the semifinals on Wednesday at Mertz Mortorelli Gymnasium at 7 p.m.
 
On Thursday, UWS received a match-high 14 kills from senior Alexie Pryd (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove Senior), six from sophomore Maiana Stark (Germantown, Wis./Germantown) and five more from senior Cassy Teff (Foley, Minn./Foley) as Superior hit .227 as a team, including .296 in the third set. Coming off of Tuesday's outing at UW-Eau Claire where she eclipsed the 1,000-dig mark, sophomore Jenna Anderson (Bemidji, Minn./Bemidji) added a match-best 14 digs. She now has 1,016 for her career in just 55 matches.
 
In all, 17 players saw the court, helping UWS to its 22nd win against the Polars since 2003.
 
Down, 8-7, Superior cobbled together a 12-1 run, benefiting from 10 Crown errors, to take control of the opening set. Kills from Stark and Teff and an Anderson service ace, sandwiched three Polars' errors, to give UWS the lead in the match.
 
The Yellowjackets again erased an early Crown advantage in the second set, using six consecutive points to vault into an 11-7 lead. A Stark kill, assisted by Teff, made it 16-10. After an error, the 'Jackets ripped off four straight points with three kills for a 20-11 edge. Kills by Pryd and sophomore Rilie Kupka (Eagan, Minn./Burnsville Senior) and a block by Teff and Kupka pushed it to a 23-12 set with UWS winning it five points later.
 
A 7-0 run in the third set, which included a pair of Pryd kills, gave Superior a 13-6 lead and it never looked back. UWS sealed the victory with two more kills by Pryd, one each from junior Kielan LaPlante (Chatfield, Minn./Chatfield) and Plautz to go with an ace from sophomore Mathea Leiskau (Osceola, Wis./Osceola).
 
Crown, which fell to 2-24 overall and 0-13 in the UMAC, was led by Amber Gamer and Sage Johnson with five kills and nine digs, respectively.
 
UWS closes the regular season Friday at Minnesota Morris. First serve is slated for 6 p.m.