St. Paul, MN – The University of Mary volleyball team headed to St. Paul, MN, to take on the defending national champion, Concordia-St. Paul. The Marauders battled hard, playing one of their best matches of the season but could not overcome the dominance of the nation's 3rd ranked team in a three-set loss to the Golden Bears (25-13, 25-23, 25-16).
 
The Marauders fall to 3-15 on the season and 0-10 in NSIC play.
 
The first set was close at the beginning with the Marauders remaining within three points. The Golden Bears then showed why they are defending national champs, stringing together several runs to clinch the first set 25-13.
 
The Marauders came out on fire in the second set, motivated to take down the champs. UMary jumped out to an impressive 10-3 lead which they continued to build upon, generating an 18-11 lead. The Marauders worked hard to hold onto the lead but the Golden Bears rallied to tie the match at 23 apiece. CSP then earned the final two points of the set to win 25-23.
 
UMary jumped out to a 5-2 lead against the Golden Bears in the third set, but the momentum soon swung back to the side of CSP as the home team ran off nine straight points and didn't look back from there. The Golden Bears clinched the match with a 25-16 set-three victory.
 
Bailey Harms continues to perform well with the recent playing time she has been seeing. The freshman recorded a game-high of five blocks in the match to go along with four kills.
 
Geovana Almeida had a game-high 13 digs for the Marauders.
 
Katja Berge and Natalia Cruz posted team highs for kills for the Marauders, each recording seven. Cruz posted a .238 hitting percentage during the match.
 
The Marauders are back in action tomorrow against Minnesota State - Mankato at 2 pm in Mankato, MN.
 
#marauders#