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Last week the Marauders dropped two games, but they managed to show some positive flashes. U-Mary was actually able to take the first set of the night on Friday against #13 Minnesota State, but eventually fell 3-1. On the night the Marauders were led offensively by OH Allison Opp with a team-high 13 kills. S Emily Turkowski recorded her fifth 30 plus assist game, as she tallied 35 on the night. Defensively, Valerie Lesu picked up her fifth 20 plus dig performance, finishing with a game-high 20. Despite losing 3-0 to #6 Concordia on Saturday, U-Mary took some time to celebrate. Prior to the game the Marauders seniors were honored. MB Brianna Smith, DS Valerie Lesu and S Hailee Walsh. These three seniors have made a huge impact on the program over the years and will be greatly missed.
This week the Marauders will begin a stretch of five straight games away from home. On Tuesday, U-Mary will start the week with in-state rival Minot State. Looking ahead to the weekend, the Marauders will take on Southwest on Friday and Sioux Falls on Saturday.
Next week U-Mary will finish up their road-trip with a pair of conference rematches. On Friday the Marauders will take on the Bemidji State Beavers. Earlier in the season, U-Mary came back from 0-2 to defeated BSU 3-2. The final game of the trip will be with the University of Minnesota-Crookston Golden Eagles. The Golden Eagles edge the Marauders 3-0 in their first meeting.
Minot State (4-17, 0-11 NSIC) is still in search of their first conference win of the season. Minot faced the same opponents as the Marauders last weekend. In their first game of the weekend, MSU . Rounding out the weekend the Beavers. Despite their struggles this season, Minot has reason to look forward to the future. Freshman OH Mallory Sall has come on strong offensively for the Mustangs recording the seventh most kills per game in the conference with 3.61. Last year, Minot won both times the teams played. This year, however, the Marauders swept the Beavers at home.
Southwest (18-1, 10-1 NSIC), with the release of the latest AVCA coaches poll, is ranked #1 in the country. The Mustangs are currently on an 11 game winning streak, including 10 straight Northern Sun games. Last weekend, Southwest was on the road against Bemidji State and Minnesota Crookston. The Mustangs defeated the Beavers 3-0 and the Golden Eagles 3-1. Southwest is led offensively by a pair 2011 All-Americans in Mary Groth and Brooke Burmeister. Groth and Burmeister are each averaging over three kills per set on the season. The Mustangs have been nationally ranked each of the past three times they have played the Marauders. U-Mary is 0-3 is the past three seasons against SMSU.
Sioux Falls (10-10, 2-9 NSIC) has struggled this year in conference play. USF's two wins in Northern Sun play have come against St. Cloud and Bemidji. Last weekend Sioux Falls fell 3-1 to Crookston and defeated Bemidji 3-0. Despite the Cougars' struggles, they have two players hitting over .300 in Samantha Lovell and Sarah Kohler. Setting the tone for their attack is setter Alexa Reed who is averaging 9.79 assists per set. This is the first time the two teams have met since they joined they NCAA.
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