ASHLAND, Wis. -- Three players recorded double-figure kills as the UW-Superior volleyball team opened Upper Midwest Athletic Conference play with a 3-2 victory over Northland at Kendrigan Gymnasium on Tuesday.
 
Senior Alexie Pryd (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove Senior) (17), junior Kaylin Plautz (Elk River, Minn./Elk River) (17) and sophomore Maiana Stark (Germantown, Wis./Germantown) (10) powered the Yellowjackets offense that totaled a season-high 55 kills while also hitting a season-best .248 from the floor to improve to 5-7 overall and 1-0 in the UMAC.
 
UWS rallied from down a set to claim the final two for the victory, winning by scores of 25-15, 22-25, 16-25, 25-19, 15-5.
 
Plautz's 17 kills came on just 25 swings for a .560 attack percentage, while Pryd hit .394. Senior Cassy Teff (Foley, Minn./Foley) added 10 digs and 13 assists for her seventh double-double of the season. Sophomore Jenna Anderson (Bemidji, Minn./Bemidji) registered a season-high 23 digs.
 
After the 'Jackets hit .667 in the first set with 10 kills on 15 attacks with zero errors for a comfortable 10-point win, Northland (4-5, 0-1) used an 8-1 run in the middle of the second set to help tie the match. The LumberJills then took the lead, hitting .297 in the third with 13 kills and just two errors.
 
UWS, though, came roaring back in the fourth, erasing early 6-2 and 11-7 deficits, and engineering an 8-1 stretch of its own to extend the match. Superior won the final five points in the set on kills by Stark, Plautz and Pryd as well as a Hailey Atwood (Big Lake, Minn./Big Lake) service ace and Northland error.
 
Northland took the first three points in the deciding fifth set, but UWS used an 8-0 run, capped by a Stark kill and LumberJills' attack error, to take control. Leading, 9-5, the Yellowjackets sealed the match with a 6-0 stretch that began with kills from Plautz and Pryd and ended with four consecutive Northland errors.
 
Shelby Justman and Larissa Fossum paced the Northland attack with 15 and 11 kills, respectively. Rachel Callow had 32 assists and Alexa Zadra added 15 digs.
 
UWS returns to action Friday hosting Martin Luther Friday at 7 p.m.