At the PE Center Friday night, the Cougar women’s volleyball team held off a feisty Bethany Lutheran team in four sets, prevailing 15, 25, 23, 20.
In the first set, Morris jumped out to a comfortable lead early, behind good serving runs from senior Colleen Hermes, first year Allie Humphrey and sophomore Natalie Thomas. After building up a four point lead, junior Sam Pfannenstein put the Vikings away with a four point service run, two of those on aces. Pfannenstein would serve five aces on the night.
Bethany Lutheran rallied in the second jumping out to a 6-1 thanks to a strong serving run by Nicole Jones. The Cougars struggled to gain ground and finally surged when Humphrey took serving and ran six straight points, cutting the Viking lead to one. From that point, the teams went back and forth exchanging rally points. Bethany Lutheran’s Vanessa Harkins served out the match for a 25-23 win.
Early in the third set, with Hermes on serve and strong hitting from first year Justine Banken, it looked like the Cougars would run away, opening a 15-8 lead. The Vikings rallied, again behind Jones on serve and Harkins and Laura Holt at the net. They cut the margin to 23-19, but would get no closer.
The fourth set surged back and forth with neither team able to establish a meaningful run of points until Pfannenstein took serve again at 17-15 and ran off three points for a five point lead. The Cougars would never look back.
Both teams defensively were strong at the net, with the Vikings holding the Cougars to a .169 hitting percentage, and the Cougars returning the favor at .106 for Bethany Lutheran. On the backline Hermes, Thomas, Jordan Olerud, and Lindsay Jacobson had a collective 60 digs in the match.
On offense, Banken led the Cougars with 14 kills. She was one of four Cougars in double-digits. The others were Olerud (13), Humphrey (10), and Megan Theis (10).
In the end, it would be the Cougars slight edge in attacks (183-141) and attack percentage that would make the difference. After the match, Banken said the edge in hitting was the result of practice:
“Tonight, what really helped us, [in practice] we worked on play hits and special runs… and that really boosted our confidence,” she said.
The Cougars improve their record to 8-10 on the season. They host Martin Luther College for a Saturday matinee (1p) at the PC Center tomorrow.
Minnesota, Morris 3