THIS WEEK
The University of Mary volleyball team returns home for two matches this weekend. The Marauders will open match play on Friday, September 28, at 6 pm against Upper Iowa University. They will then have a quick turn around to get ready for match number two of the weekend at 11 am on Saturday, September 29, against Winona State University.
 
THE RECORD
The Marauders hold a record of 3-12 with an 0-7 record in NSIC play.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Marauders dropped both of their matches last weekend on the road. The first game was against Bemidji State. The Marauders had a hot start, winning their first set in the last six matches, but BSU came back and won the next three sets to beat the Marauders 3-1. UMary struggled in the following match, facing a Minnesota Crookston who had yet to win a conference match. The Golden Eagles took control in all three sets to sweep the Marauders.
 
OPPO RESEARCH – UPPER IOWA UNIVERSITY
Upper Iowa University comes into this weekend against the Marauders with a 9-6 record. The Peacocks have dominated out-of-conference play, but the difficulty of the NSIC conference shows with the Peacocks holding a 2-5 record in conference matches. They are currently 12th in the NSIC standings.
 
LAST MEETING
The last time the Marauders took on the Peacocks was at the end of the 2017 season. The Peacocks took down the Marauders in three straight sets. Natalia Cruz was second on the team in both kills and digs during this match while Sydney Murphy was second on the team in assists.
 
OPPO RESEARCH – WINONA STATE UNIVERSITY
The Winona State Warriors come into the weekend with a 6-9 record overall and a 3-4 record in conference play. The Warriors entered the season as a top 20 nationally ranked team but a difficult schedule has knocked them out of rankings contention.
 
LAST MEETING
The last time the Marauders and Warriors faced each other was during the 2017 season for the Marauders last road game. The Warriors swept the Marauders in three straight sets. Geovana Almeida lead the team in digs during this match.
 
"SETTING" UP FOR SUCCESS
Sydney Murphy continues to lead the Marauders in assists game in and game out. Brittany Brusven pitched in against Minnesota Crookston to share the team lead in assists. Murphy ranks 12th in the NSIC in assists averaging 7.94 assists per set.
 
"ACE" UP THE SLEEVE
The Marauders rank 6th as a team in service aces in the NSIC. This is in part to having two Marauders ranking highly in the conference for individual service aces. Geovana Almeida ranks 10th at 0.37 aces/set and Sydney Murphy ranks 12^th (0.37).
 
NOT IN OUR HOUSE
Blocks is the name of the game for Madison Bergthold. As a team the Marauders rank at the bottom of the NSIC in blocks but as an individual stat line Bergthold ranks top 15 in the conference in this category at 0.80/set.
 
DIG IT UP, OH, OH
Breanna Donarski is a specialist when it comes to defense for the Marauders. Donarski lead the Marauders in digs both games over the past weekend. The junior libero averages a team-best 3.15 digs/set.
 
ATTACK AND KILL
Morgan Schnabel continues to lead the Marauders in kills despite missing the past few games with an injury, ranking 19^th in the NSIC at 2.87 kills/set.  Natalia Cruz and Anna Nietfeld have been consistently putting up solid kill totals game in and game out for the Marauders, both are nearing the 100 kill mark on the season. Katja Berge has been improving game in and game out. Berge did not see much action at the beginning of the season but now she is a crucial piece to the Marauders system. Averaging 2.03 kills/set, Berge is second on the team in the category,  only trailing Schnabel.
 
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