BISMARCK, ND - The University of Mary ended its homecoming weekend with a 3-1 loss to conference foe Sioux Falls Saturday, Sept. 24 at the McDowell Activity Center.

For the second straight match the Marauders (7-7, 2-3 NSIC) won the first set but couldn't put together any wins in the final three sets.

The Cougars (8-5, 2-3 NSIC) won its second Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference match with set scores of 21-25, 25-23, 27-25 and 25-19.

Junior outside hitter Lauren Randall finished with a match-high 20 kills, senior outside Thayna Silva recorded 11 kills and senior setter Janell Finkbeiner tagged on 52 assists for the Marauders. It was the second time in Finkbeiner's career finishing with 52 assists. Senior libero Alex Brown chipped in 22 digs for the blue and orange. 

Mary jumped out to an early 5-1 lead in the first set and rode the momentum all the way through the set after not giving up the lead. The Cougars tied the set 18-18 late in the set but Mary held its own and used the crowd noise to take the 25-21 set win.

The second set started in favor of USF as a Bria Barfnecht kill gave the Cougars a 7-3 lead. Mary hung around throughout the set but after two straight Marauder attacking errors the Cougars led 23-20 late in the set. Mary scored the next two points after coming out of a timeout but the Cougars used two Makenna Rockeman kills to secure the 25-23 set win, tying the match at 1-1.

Rockeman finished with a team-high 18 kills with a .333 hitting percentage.

The Marauders strung together some early third set points to take the 7-6 lead but four straight Cougar kills and USF was up 10-7. The Cougars recieved back-to-back kills from Rockeman and took a commanding 18-9 lead in the set.

The Marauders made a promising comeback after trailing 22-14. Four Mary kills and a USF serving error later, the Marauders were down 22-19.

A Randall kill and Mary trailed 23-21 and the momentum was starting to shift the Marauders way. The momentum continued as the Marauders took a late 25-24 lead but three straight USF points and the Cougars claimed the set win.

In the fourth and final set the Marauders led 8-5 but the Cougars took back the 16-14 lead after a Jordan Calef kill. Mary trailed 20-18 after a Rachel Astrup kill but the Cougars scored five of the last six set points to win the match.

The Cougars finished with a .256 hitting percentage while Mary ended the match with a .118 hitting percentage.

Astrup finished with nine kills and a hitting percentage of .615 for Mary, teammates senior Elizabeth Garcia and junior Freddie Campbell each finished with seven kills.