BISMARCK, N.D. - Hoping to snap a two-game skid in addition to earning their 10th win of the season, a feat that hasn't been seen since the 2007 season, the University of Mary Volleyball team took on the University of Sioux Falls for the High School / Middle School Night.
 
The Marauders (10-14, 5-10 NSIC) easily took the first two sets, but the Cougars (11-13, 3-12 NSIC) fought back to force a fifth set and had U-Mary on the brink of a heartbreaker. The Marauders prevailed, though, as they rallied off five straight points for a brilliant come-from-behind win in the final set to leave Sioux Falls empty handed with the final score at 3-2 (28-26, 25-18, 17-25, 22-25, 16-14).
 
The first set started off as a back-and-forth between the teams with Sioux Falls holding a 5-3 lead, but the Marauders pulled out an early 7-1 run off two kills from Alexis Jacobs, one kill each from Thayna Silva, Elizabeth Garcia and Katelyn Olson, followed by a Jacobs service ace and a Cougar error, that swung the score in favor of U-Mary at 10-6. Sioux Falls tried to climb back into the set, but the Marauders matched them point-for-point en route to a 17-12 lead midway through.
 
The Cougars narrowed their deficit to 19-17 and got within one point of U-Mary at 20-19 and 21-20, but the Marauders held fast and appeared to have the first set in hand at 24-21. Sioux Falls would not give up just yet as they fired off three quick points to tie the set at 24-24 but gave a point back on a service error that put U-Mary with another set-point opportunity at 25-24.
 
Sioux Falls immediately got the point back with a team block, one of 15 for the Cougars in the match, to even the score once again at 25-25. The Cougars had their first set-point opportunity at 26-25, but Jacobs singlehandedly kept U-Mary in the set with a quick kill and solo block combo to give the Marauders the lead at 27-26.
 
Silva put the exclamation point on the set with a fast kill to seal the mini-marathon at 28-26.
 
The Marauders pulled out the stops in the second set as they built an early 6-3 lead and kept the cushion all the way to a 14-8 lead. Sioux Falls ended up fighting back with a 5-1 run to narrow the lead down to 15-13, but U-Mary put together a 8-2 run off three kills from Silva, two from Garcia, two Cougar errors and another Jacobs service ace to blow the lead open at 23-15.
 
Sioux Falls tried to get back into it, but it was too little too late as Silva and Olson put the one-two together with a kill each to take the second set at 25-18.
 
The third set is where the momentum started to shift, despite the Marauders owning a 7-4 lead, the Cougars rallied off an impressive 9-2 to take the lead at 13-9 and kept their foot on the pedal from there.
 
The Marauders struggled to get the offense going through most of the set but were able to narrow the Cougar's lead down to 16-15 midway through. Unfortunately the offensive engine stalled altogether as Sioux Falls put up a 9-2 run to close out the set and force a continuation at 25-17.
 
Things didn't get much better in the fourth set for U-Mary as Sioux Falls built an early 6-3, but the Marauders seemingly had the offense back in rhythm with five quick points off three Cougar errors and a kill each from Rachel Astrup and Freddie Campbell to retake the lead at 8-6.
 
The Cougars took the heavy blow and responded with one of their own as they fired off a 5-1 run to go back on top at 11-9, but not before Silva earned another kill, a block assist with Garcia, followed by a Geovana Almeida service ace that put U-Mary in the lead at 12-11.
 
After both teams traded points with U-Mary still on top at 13-12, Sioux Falls found the right combination as they strung together a 12-4 run that put the set on the brink at 24-17 in favor of the visitors.
 
It was time for the Marauders to demonstrate their resilience with five quick points off three Cougar errors, another Silva kill and another Almeida service ace that gave U-Mary some momentum to close the gap at 24-22. Yet the Cougars found the hole in the Marauder's defensive front and recorded the set-ending kill to force a deciding fifth-set at 25-22.
 
The final set was eerily similar to the previous two, with the Marauders owning an early lead but surrendering it to the Cougars almost immediately as Sioux Falls jumped out to a 10-6 lead.
 
The Marauders fought back to a 12-10 score in favor of the Cougars before Sioux Falls appeared to have the match in hand at 14-11, hoping to pull of the comeback victory.
 
Unfortunately for them, U-Mary had different plans as Silva got the ball rolling with a quick kill, followed by a Cougar error and a team block from Garcia and Campbell to even the score at 14-14.
 
The eventual timeout from Sioux Falls wouldn't slow the momentum U-Mary had, however, as Alex Brown pulled off a critical service ace and Campbell added the finishing touch with a kill to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat at 16-14 in the final set, giving U-Mary their most wins in a season since the 2007 season where they finished 12-14.
 
Thayna Silva led the Marauders on offense as she earned 16 kills to go with 17 digs for her sixth double-double of the season; she also added two block assists on the night.
 
Lauren Randall helped her out with 13 kills to go with two blocks assists and one dig on the evening.
 
Elizabeth Garcia had a solid all-around performance with 10 kills, a .300 hitting percentage, four block assists, two digs and two service aces.
 
Katelyn Olson provided the driving force behind the offense as she ended up with 43 assists on the night, a career-high for her, to go with nine digs, four block assists and four kills.
 
Rachel Astrup provided the first line of defense for U-Mary as she finished with six block assists to go with three kills and a dig in the match.
 
Alex Brown anchored most of the back line as she tied her career-high in digs from earlier in the season with 33 at the end of the match, a feat she also accomplish against Northwest Oklahoma State University back on September 11.
 
Casey Reamann provided the helping hand on the backline as she ended up with 19 digs, one short of her career-high that was set last year against the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras.
 
The Marauders will play host to #4 Southwest Minnesota State University tomorrow for their Halloween Costumes Night, starting at 6:00 PM.
 
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