BISMARCK, ND - It took five sets but the University of Mary beat St. Cloud State 3-2 (25-19, 16-25, 24-26, 25-20 and 15-12) to snap a five-match losing streak Saturday, Oct. 8, in the final match of the Dig Pink Weekend.
 
Junior outside hitter Lauren Randall recorded 31 kills which is a Mary NCAA D-II record. It was the second time this season the Burnsville, Minn., native reached at least 30 kills in a match. On Sept. 20, Randall posted 30 kills against Minnesota State Univeristy Moorhead.
 
The Marauders finished with a .232 attacking percentage and received double-digit digs by three student-athletes to secure its third conference win of the season.
 
Senior outside hitter Thayna Silva finished with 21 digs, senior libero Alex Brown tagged on 13 more and Randall collected 10 for the match.
 
Senior middle hitter Elizabeth Garcia rode a .409 hitting percentage to finish with 13 kills and seven block assists to help the Marauders get the victory.
 
Senior Janell Finkbeiner was stellar yet again at the setter position finishing with a match-high 59 assists.
 
It was a back-and-forth first set but the Mary held a nice 16-11 lead after a few SCSU attacking errors and kills from Garcia and Silva. The Huskies took a late timeout trailing 23-17 and a late Shannon Klink kill wasn't enough for SCSU as the Marauders took the first set 25-19.
 
Klink along with two other Huskies finished with 10-plus kills in the match. Macy Weller hit .478 and posted 14 kills, teammate Becca Gruber finished with 13 kills as Klink added 11.
 
Mary trailed 10-8 in the second set and the Huskies outscored the Blue & Orange 15-7 after that to take set two and even up the score at 1-1. The Marauders finished with its worst hitting percentage in set two, posting a -.027 while the Huskies hit .200.
 
Set three was even throughout but SCSU used a late 3-0 run to take a 16-15 lead and scored three more straight points after a few Marauder mistakes to take a 20-17. Mary used a timeout and evened the score at 23-23 but the Huskies outscored the Marauders 3-1 in the final four points.
 
Mary found itself in a familiar place trailing two sets to one but the home team wasn't going to give up just quite yet.
 
Junior outside hitter Freddie Campbell started set four off with a Marauder kill and Mary took an early 4-1 lead that turned into a 12-9 lead eventually a Garcia kill and Randall service ace gave Mary a 15-11 lead.
 
Another late Randall kill and the Marauders took a 23-18 lead as they could sniff a five set. SCSU scored two straight points to pull within 23-20 but a Randall kill, her ninth of the set gave Mary life.
 
It seemed to be Mary's fifth and final set early on, leading 6-3 but the Huskies took a 7-6 lead, its first and only lead of the set.
 
Mary rattled eight points to the Huskies one and a Garcia kill sealed the win for the Marauders.
 
Despite losing its seventh North Sun Intercollegiate Conference match, the Huskies had the advantage in total team blocks (11) but the Marauders finished with nine service aces to SCSU's seven.
 
Defensive specialist Clara Krenz led the Huskies in digs with 19.
 
Mary will take this momentum into its three-match road streak next week that includes two matches in Minnesota and one in North Dakota. Starting in Crookston, Minn., the Marauders will face Minnesota-Crookston at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 14.  

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