Box Score Bismarck, ND—Despite a career night from the University of Mary's top offensive target, the University of Mary to the University of Sioux Falls in three sets (27-29, 25-21, 17-25, 18-25).
 
Alexis Jacobs had career-high 19 kills while hitting a career best .351. Janell Finkbeiner set a new four-set season-high with 29 assists.
 
The Panthers (10-6, 2-5 NSIC) Kate Hart finished with 13 kills and hit a game-high .565.
 
U-Mary was on fire to start the first set jumping ahead to an 8-2 lead by way of a 7-0 run.  A pair of service aces by Alex Brown fueled the Marauders run. Sioux Falls cooled off U-Mary and after a 4-0 run tied the set at 15.  Down 25-24, the Marauders took the next two points to take a 26-25 lead. The two teams exchanged the next two points, but Sioux Falls closed the match with three straight points keyed by three U-Mary errors to take the set 29-27.
 
The Marauders responded in the second playing one of their best sets of the season. Jacobs finished the set with six kills and a block as U-Mary outhit Sioux Falls .400-.158. The two teams went back and forth with seven lead changes and neither team leading by more than three. With the score knotted at 21-21, Sioux Falls committed four consecutive errors to give U-Mary a 25-21 win.
 
The Marauders competed early in the third set as the teams were even at 9-9.  However, an 8-2 run by the Cougars gave them a 17-11 lead and command of the set. Outhitting U-Mary .382 to .061, USF won the set 25-17. 
 
U-Mary fell was sluggish to start the final set spotting Sioux Falls a 4-0 lead. The Marauders made a run to close the gap to one early, but ran out of gas down the stretch trailing by as many as eight as they dropped the fourth set 18-25.
 
For the match U-Mary hit .178, their second best hitting performance of the conference season. However, the USF offense hit .258 and had a 55-46 advantage in kills.
 
Defensively Sioux Falls held a 46-41 advantage in digs, but U-Mary held an 8-7 advantage in total blocks. Middle blocker Paige Smith matched her season-high with six block assists.
 
U-Mary (3-11, 0-7 NSIC) will remain at home next weekend as they host St. Cloud State University on Friday Oct. 11 and #2 University of Minnesota Duluth on Saturday.