BISMARCK, N.D. - On the penultimate day of the home schedule, the University of Mary Volleyball team took on St. Cloud State University for Parent's Night as U-Mary honored the hard work and support shown by the mothers and fathers of the team.
 
The family members received their thanks prior to the beginning of the match and the ceremony only served as an appetizer as the Marauders (11-15, 6-11 NSIC) fought back from a 2-0 deficit to seal the comeback victory over the Huskies (8-17, 4-13 NSIC) in five sets at 18-25, 22-25, 25-19, 25-19, and 15-8.
 
A trio of Marauders paved the way for the win, but the Huskies proved it would be a long road ahead after they stayed hot on their heels through most of the first set with St. Cloud State recording the first two points and followed that up by matching every point U-Mary scored. The Marauders evened the score at 14 apiece midway through the set, but St. Cloud State started to pull away after three quick points off a slew of kills to take a 17-14 lead.
 
After U-Mary cut the deficit down to 18-17, the Huskies closed the set on a 7-1 run featuring five kills, a team block and a Marauder error to make the score 25-18 final in favor of the visitors.
 
The Marauders appeared to have their offense in order early in the second set after they held a 5-3 lead off a kill each from Alexis Jacobs and Rachel Astrup, a team block from Jacobs and Elizabeth Garcia, and two Husky errors. St. Cloud demonstrated their resiliency, however, starting with a 6-1 run featuring a trio of team blocks coupled with three U-Mary errors to take the lead at 9-6.
 
From there, U-Mary was forced to play catch-up as they cut the lead down to 9-8, but St. Cloud State was there to keep a buffer by extending their lead back to 11-8 and eventually held a 20-15 lead late in the set. The Marauder offense started to find a rhythm after that as they cut the lead back down to 24-22 in the hopes of forcing extra points thanks to a handful of kills from Jacobs, Garcia, and Lauren Randall, but the offensive burst proved too little too late as the Huskies came away with a win at 25-22 to put U-Mary on the brink of a sweep.
 
The Marauders kept their head down and would not be fazed as they opened up the third set on a 5-2 run thanks to two kills from Jacobs, one from Freddie Campbell, a Casey Reamann service ace, and a Husky error for the early lead. St. Cloud State fired off two quick points to keep the score close, but U-Mary responded with a 5-1 run thanks to two kills form Randall, one from Garcia, a Geovana Almeida service ace and another Husky error to build up a 10-5 lead.
 
U-Mary kept the cushion with timely kills en route to a comfortable 17-12 score midway through the set, but the Huskies fought their way back off four unanswered points as the Marauder defense struggled to contain the attack. So naturally the Marauders turned to their offense as Randall notched two kills, Jacobs fired off one of her own and Garcia added another during a 5-1 run that rebuilt the cushion back at 22-17.
 
The gas ran out of the tank for the Huskies at that point as U-Mary started firing on all cylinders and punctuated the set with back-to-back kills from Astrup and Jacobs to take the third set at 25-19 and send the match to a fourth set.
 
The Marauders kept the ball rolling in the fourth as they scored the first three points of two Campbell kills and another from Jacobs before St. Cloud State could muster the defense. The Huskies would not give the set away so easily, though, as they kept the score close with U-Mary holding the lead at 10-7.
 
St. Cloud State found their second wind at that point as they rallied off a 5-1 run off a combination between kills and team blocks to swipe the elad out of U-Mary's hands at 12-11. The Marauders, however, kept leaning on their offense as Jacobs and Garcia notched some quick kills, followed by a service ace from Jacobs and a team block from Garcia and Katelyn Olson to climb back on top at 15-12.
 
St. Cloud State kept right behind as they stayed within two all the way to a 18-16 score, but the errors began to set it as the Marauders mixed up their defensive looks and forced three straight Husky errors to build the lead back up to 21-16. U-Mary coasted from there as Campbell provided the exclamation point on the set with another kill to force a deciding fifth set at 25-19.
 
The Huskies appeared to have their offense back on track as they scored the first four points of the final set off two kills and two U-Mary errors, but a quick timeout from the Marauders ended up throwing a wrench into the system as U-Mary rallied off eight straight points behind the hot hands of Jacobs, Campbell, and Alex Brown, as Brown added two service aces in the rally that made the score 8-4 in favor of the home team.
 
St. Cloud State finally broke the offensive wave with a solo block and a Marauder error to cut the lead down to 9-6, but U-Mary kept the pressure up with four straight points off another kill from Jacobs and Randall, a team block from Garcia and Olson, and a Husky error to close in on win at 13-6.
 
The Huskies had one last chance as the team traded service errors but Randall sealed the set with the final kill to complete the comeback at 15-8, giving U-Mary their 11th win of the season.
 
Alexis Jacobs led all players with 21 kills on the night, her fourth match this season reaching at least 20 kills and her first since the match against Minot State University on October 20. She also added eight digs, one assist, one service ace and one block assist for the all-around effort.
 
Lauren Randall hit a blistering .368 on the night for 17 total kills, two block assists and two digs on the evening, while Freddie Campbell rounded out the attack with 13 kills, and a .300 hitting percentage.
 
With so many options to choose from, Katelyn Olson had a career night as she set a new career-high with 55 assists to go with 10 digs, her second double-double of the year, and two block assists.
 
Elizabeth Garcia provided the first line of defense as she ended up with four block assists, but also had a powerful swing to back up the rest of the offense as she finished with nine kills and four digs.
 
Alex Brown provided the anchor on the backline as she recorded 26 digs on the match to go with seven assists and two service aces. Casey Reamann provided a helping hand as she recorded 10 digs and four service aces, proving you don't need a heavy swing to be a scoring threat.
 
The Marauders will wrap up their home schedule as they host #10 University of Minnesota Duluth tomorrow afternoon for Senior's Day at the McDowell Activity Center, starting at 4:00 PM.
 
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