ST. CLOUD, Minn. - Rounding out the weekend trip to Minnesota, the University of Mary Volleyball team took on St. Cloud State University, continuing the longest road trip of the season.
 
The Marauders defense struggled to slow the Huskies offense and U-Mary (8-8, 3-4 NSIC) eventually lost in straight sets to St. Cloud State (7-8, 3-4 NSIC).
 
The first set started out rough for U-Mary as the Huskies opened up the match with a 14-2 run to put the Marauders in a deep hole. U-Mary would keep up with St. Cloud State after that point but it was too late as the Huskies took the set 25-13.
 
The offense finally got into gear in the second set with the Marauders firing off a 6-1 run off three Thayna Silva kills, an Alexis Jacobs kill and two Husky errors to give U-Mary a 7-3 lead early on. St. Cloud State responded with a 7-1 run of their own to swing the lead back into their favor at 10-8.
 
The team traded points back and forth from that point as the Marauders played from behind but U-Mary was able to narrow the Huskies' lead down to 20-19 late in the set. St. Cloud State put the Marauders on the brink after that with four straight points at 24-19 and U-Mary had one last gasp in them with a Geovana Almeida kill and a Husky error to close in at 24-21 Unfortunately it wasn't enough as the Huskies took the second set 25-21 for a commanding lead in the match.
 
The final set sung a different tune in the beginning as the Marauders held a share of the lead en route to a 12-8 advantage over the Huskies. U-Mary held the lead at 14-11 but St. Cloud State swung the momentum back into their favor with a 6-1 run that put the Marauders down 17-15 midway through the match.
 
U-Mary stayed within a point of the lead as late as 20-19, but couldn't find the right combination as the Huskies took the final set 25-19.
 
Lauren Randall led the Marauders on the offensive end as she fired off 10 kills on 22 attacks for a blistering .364 hitting percentage; she also added four digs on the afternoon.
 
Silva helped out on the offense with 10 kills on 41 attacks along with five digs and two block assists.
 
Janell Finkbeiner was the primary driver on the match as she finished with 28 assists in addition to one dig and one block assist.
 
Alex Brown led U-Mary on defense as she finished with 16 digs to go with her lone service ace.
 
The Marauders continue their road trip next week starting with a match against Concordia University, St. Paul, on Friday, October 9, followed by a match against Minnesota State University on Saturday, October 10.
 
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