BISMARCK, N.D. - Hosting the second half of the home-and-home series with their upstate rivals, the University of Mary Volleyball team took on Minot State University for the annual Campers Night at the McDowell Activity Center.
 
The Marauders (9-12, 4-8 NSIC) fell behind in the first set to the Beavers (3-16, 0-12 NSIC) but U-Mary traveled in the wake of Alexis Jacobs' hot hand and came back to clinch the season sweep in four sets over Minot State.
 
The Beavers held the early lead in set one over the Marauders at 6-2, but kills from Freddie Campbell and Elizabeth Garcia, along with a Minot State error and a Thayna Silva service ace, kept the set close at 7-6 in the initial portion. Minot State tried to pull away but U-Mary matched them point-for-point en route to a 13-12 advantage in the Beavers' favor.
 
Minot State rallied for the 6-1 run over the Marauders to extend their lead out to 19-13, and U-Mary struggled to close the gap as they got within three points at 21-18, but Mallory Sall provided two kills and the combination of two Marauder errors proved too much as the Beavers came away with the first set victory at 25-18.
 
The second set started off similar to the first as Minot State held an 7-4 lead in the beginning, but Jacobs found her groove and fired off three kills, along with a Beaver error, to tie the set at 8-8. The Beavers did score the next point, but the Marauders rode three kills from Jacobs along with two Minot State errors, a kill from Campbell, and a team block from Campbell and Rachel Astrup, to take the lead at 15-10.
 
Both squads traded points at that time up until a 19-15 lead in favor of the Marauders, and U-Mary rallied off four quick points as Astrup and Jacobs teamed up for a block and a kill apiece, to go with a Minot State error, to put the Beavers on the brink at 23-15. Minot State did have a last gasp in them to narrow the margin to 24-18, but Lauren Randall provided the exclamation point on the set as her kill sealed the win at 25-18.
 
The third set was all about U-Mary as the Marauders built an early 7-1 lead and never looked back. Minot State did manage to get the lead down to 10-7, but the Marauders fired off an impressive 8-2 run off four kills, three service aces, and a Beaver error to take a stranglehold on the set at 18-9. Minot State kept up the scoring after that point, but the burst of scoring at the beginning of the set proved too much to overcome as U-Mary cruised to a 25-17 win.
 
The eventual final set started off with the Beavers owning an 8-3 lead early on, but U-Mary proved resilient, as they would not go away and had several opportunities to take command of the match. The Marauders narrowed the gap down to 11-9 in favor of Minot State, but the team from the north kept building a cushion back up to four points at 14-10, but U-Mary was tough to shake as they closed back in at 17-15.
 
Minot State appeared to have the set in hand late as they owned a 22-19 lead over the Marauders, but U-Mary scored three quick points off two team blocks, one each from Garcia / Katelyn Olson and Astrup / Jacobs, along with another kills from Jacobs, to tie the set at 22-22 to get the crowd buzzing.
 
The Beavers scored the next point only for U-Mary to respond in kind with Jacobs' match-leading 20th kill to tie the set again at 23-23, and Minot State had the set in hand at 24-23 with their serve coming up.
 
This time is was Campbell's turn to step up to the net and she fired off an attack too hot to handle to tie the set at 24-24, followed up with another kill from Randall to give U-Mary's first lead of the match, and the final point came down to clever defensive tactics from the Marauders as they drew an unforced error from Minot State to clinch the match at 26-24, snapping U-Mary's six-match losing streak.
 
Alexis Jacobs' 20 kills came on 36 attacks for an impressive .444 hitting percentage, along with 12 digs for her fifth double-double of the season and first since the Marauders' last home match against Bemidji State University on September 26. Alexis also added three block assists and one service ace on the night.
 
Freddie Campbell aided Jacobs on the front line as she finished with 10 kills on 16 attacks for a .438 hitting percentage.
 
Elizabeth Garcia had another good all-around performance with eight kills, three block assists, and a .500 hitting percentage.
 
Rachel Astrup provided the first line of defense as she ended up with five block assists, four kills, two digs, and a service ace.
 
Katelyn Olson had a multitude of options to choose from and she recorded 40 assists in the match, both a season and career high for her, along with nine digs, four kills, three service aces and two block assists.
 
The Marauders return to action on the road later this week as they take on Wayne State College and Augustana University starting on Friday, October 23.
 
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