KEARNEY, Neb. - On the first day of the 2015 Runza Fall Classic, the University of Mary volleyball team took on 15th ranked University of Nebraska Kearney in the opening match, followed by a midafternoon matchup against Northwestern Oklahoma State University.
 
The Marauders (3-4) gave the Lopers (4-2) a run for their money but ultimately fell in four sets, and followed that up with a five-set marathon against the Rangers (2-4) that saw U-Mary come out on top for their third win of the season.
 
Trying to build on their momentum from the home opener against Dickinson State University, the Marauders gave the Lopers a tough matchup only to fall short in the fourth set.  The first set saw Nebraska Kearney build a 10-5 lead, but U-Mary was able to keep the score within three points at 16-13. The Lopers rallied off a mini four-point run to put the Marauders in a 20-13 hole and eventually coasted to a 25-17 first set victory.
 
The second set is where the magic started to happen for the Marauders as the two teams fought back and forth to an 8-8 tie before the Marauders jumped out to an 11-8 lead. U-Mary kept the buffer up as they held a lead at 19-17 and capitalized on a Loper error followed by a Thayna Silva kill and two Elise Bauman service aces, to extend their lead to 23-17 over their nationally ranked opponents. The Lopers kept the set alive with a quick 4-1 burst to narrow the Marauder lead to 24-21, but Silva put the exclamation point on the set with another kill to even the count at 1-1 heading into the third set.
 
The two teams balanced each other out in the third set with Nebraska Kearney holding the lead at 11-10, and the Lopers decided to put the offense in gear and fired off an 8-2 run to put U-Mary at a 19-12 disadvantage. The Marauders were able to narrow the gap at 20-16, but from there, the Lopers coasted once again and closed the set on a 5-1 run to take a 2-1 set lead in the match at 25-17.
 
Set four is where the action really ramped up as U-Mary jumped out to a quick 7-4 lead, but Nebraska Kearney fought right back to tie it at 10-10. The teams turned the set into a tug-of-war with neither squad owning a lead of greater than two points, but the Marauders had the opportunity to send the match to set five with a 24-22 lead. The Lopers fired off three quick points to swing the lead back into their favor at 25-24, but U-Mary wouldn't give up as they scored the next to for the second chance to end the set with a 26-25 lead. The teams traded two points apiece after that with the Marauders owning a 28-27 lead, but the Lopers found the missing piece as they scored three straight points to end the match with a 30-28 set four victory.
 
Silva provided the primary point of attack with 16 kills on 43 attacks for a .326 hitting percentage and she also added four digs in the match.
 
Alexis Jacobs found her groove as she provided the secondary option on offense with 13 kills on 29 attacks for a .276 hitting percentage, and she had two service aces, one block assist and nine digs to go with her offensive performance.
 
Elizabeth Garcia and Lauren Randall each had seven kills and four block assists as they provided help in all aspects of the match.
 
Janell Finkbeiner paced the offense with 44 assists and added two blocks assists and four digs on the match.
 
Alex Brown continued to anchor the back line with 20 digs.
 
The second match of the day turned into a marathon effort with the Marauders winning the first two sets and had to outlast the Rangers to clinch the match on the fifth set.
 
U-Mary stumbled out of the gate on the first set as the Rangers jumped out to an 8-2 lead, but the Marauders dug in and narrowed the score to 16-11 before they opened the sails and fired off a four-point burst to climb within one point at 16-15.
 
The Rangers kept U-Mary at bay with a 4-1 run of their own at 20-16, but the Marauders proved their resiliency with another four-point rally to knot the score at 20-20 thanks to two Jacobs kills, a Randall kill and a Finkbeiner service ace.
 
Northwestern Oklahoma State tried to regain their sizable lead but couldn't shake the Marauders despite owning a 22-21 lead, and U-Mary capped off another four-point run with a kill, two Ranger errors, and a team block from Jacobs and Rachel Astrup to seal the first set victory at 25-22.
 
The second set started off with another back and forth, something the Marauders are known for early in the year, with the Rangers scoring the first three points followed be U-Mary responding with three of their own to tie the set at 3-3. In appropriate fashion the set slowly turned into a mirror matchup with the Rangers firing off a 4-1 to improve to 7-4 and the Marauders responding with a 4-1 run of their own to tie the set again at 8-8.
 
Of course the set continued on in similar fashion with the teams trading the next six combined points to keep the score tied at 11-11, followed by a Marauder 3-1 run and a Ranger 3-1 run to even the score once again at 15 apiece. U-Mary seemingly gained the upper hand with a 4-1 run to retake the lead at 19-16, but the Rangers proved their resiliency to force a tie at 19-19 and again at 21-21.
 
In perfect form, though, the Marauders said enough is enough and capped the set off with a four-point run thanks to a Randall solo block, a Randall kill, a Jacobs kill, and a Ranger error to take the second set at 25-21, winning the first battle of attrition.
 
The teams were still interested in playing the mirror game, although in a less intense fashion, with the Rangers owning the early 5-3 lead, followed by U-Mary regaining the advantage at 9-7. The third set was tied six more times en route to the Rangers owning a cushion with a 20-17 lead and the Marauders kept the score close at a 23-22 disadvantage. The Rangers decided to put the offense in a higher gear as they ended the set on a kill and a team block to take set three at 25-22.
 
The fourth set was akin to two heavyweights throwing haymakers, with the Marauders dealing the first blow on a 5-1 run to overcome the Rangers' 4-3 early lead. With U-Mary up 8-5, Northwestern Oklahoma State responded in kind with a four-point run to regain the lead at 9-8. The Marauders came right back with another 4-1 run that swung the lead back into their favor at 12-10 and kept the lead to 16-12. The Rangers dealt the next heavy blow with an 8-1 run and put U-Mary on their heels at a 20-17 disadvantage and the Marauders couldn't recover as Northwestern Oklahoma State cruised to the eventual 25-21 fourth set victory.
 
As fate would have it, the match came down to the fifth set and the Rangers started off with a 4-2 early lead, only to have the Marauders come right back and retake the lead at 5-4. The Rangers opened up the scoring with a 5-1 run to put U-Mary in a 9-6 hole, but the Marauders wouldn't give up as they fired off a quick three-point burst to tie the score at 9-9.
 
The Rangers built the lead back up at 12-9 and kept that cushion at 14-12, but the Marauders found that deciding factor as Jacobs provided the kill to narrow the gap at 14-13, the Rangers had an unforced error that allowed U-Mary to tie it at 14-14. The final push came in the form of a transfer from Seward County Community College as Thayna Silva provided the final two points of the marathon with two kills and took U-Mary over the top with a 16-14 win in the final set.
 
Silva finished the match with 13 kills and 22 digs for her third double double of the season.
 
Jacobs earned her first double double of the season as she finished with 17 kills and 12 digs; she also had three block assists on the match.
 
Randall led all Marauders with 20 kills on 62 attacks for a .210 hitting percentage; she also added one service ace, two solo blocks and 1 block assist.
 
Finkbeiner recorded a career high in assists with 55 in addition to her seven digs and one service ace.
 
Brown continued her usual pace with 33 digs in the match to go with three assists.
 
The Marauders will conclude their non-conference schedule tomorrow when they take on the University of Illinois-Springfield in a rematch from earlier in the season. U-Mary will then take on Chadron State College in the early afternoon match.
 
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