THIS WEEK
Following five straight road games, the University of Mary volleyball team is back home for a pair of matches, one midweek and one on Friday.
 
For a second straight week the University of Mary plays Highway 83 rival Minot State University in a midweek matchup. After the Marauders defeated the Beavers in a Northern Sun conference game last week at Minot State, the two teams now play a nonconference match at UMary. Game time between the Marauders and the Beavers is 6 pm on Wednesday, October 18, at the McDowell Activity Center.
 
UMary jumps back into NSIC play when Augustana visits on Friday, October 20. Game time between the Marauders and the Vikings is 6 pm at the MAC.  
 
THE RECORDS
UMary enters the week 5-15 overall and 1-10 in the NSIC... Minot State is 2-18… Augie is 7-11/4-6.
 
LAST WEEKEND
In a pair of games played in Aberdeen, SD, the Marauders opened the weekend with a 3-0 (25-20, 25-16, 25-16) non-conference loss at Northern State. Nehkyah Ellis led the UMary attack with nine kills… In a neutral site NSIC match against MSU Moorhead, the Marauders dropped a narrow 3-1 (25-14, 23-25, 26-24, 25-16) decision to the Dragons. Ally Gruber had 14 kills, Ellis added 11 and Maddie Cooper nine. Gruber also added 22 digs.
 
BLOCK PARTY
The Marauders tied a season-high in team blocks against MSUM. The Marauders finished with 20 blocks on the night that produced a season-best 11 points. Two of the blocks were solo with 18 being assisted blocks. For the season the Marauders are 8^th in the conference with 1.89 blocks/set.
 
TWIN TOWERS
Middle hitters Alexandra Harper and Maddie Cooper are among the NSIC leaders in blocks. Harper is 16^th with .83 blocks/set. Right behind in 19^th is Cooper at .75 b/s. Only eight teams have two players who rank in the top 20 of the conference rankings.   
ATTACK
Ally Gruber provides an unrelenting outside attack for the Marauders. The senior from Belgrade, MN, leads the Marauders in kills per set at 2.70 (17^th in NSIC) and points per set at 3.10 (19^th). She also chips in 2.61 digs per set. Gruber has reached double digits in kills a team-high ten times this season with a high of 22 in a win over MSU Billings. She has six double doubles. Gruber led the Marauders with 18 kills in the win at Minot State.
 
DEEEE-FENSE
Kaia Sueker is one of the top liberos in the NSIC. The team leader in digs with 294, the Marshall, MN, averages 4.52 digs per set to rank 7^th in the league. She has double digit digs in her last 11 games. For her career Sueker has 1,203 digs.
 
MARAUDERS WATCH

• Maddie Cooper is the Marauders most efficient offensive force. The junior middle hitter from Fargo, ND, is hitting .223 on the season and averages 1.87 kills/set. She had her best night of the season in the win at Minot State, posting 12 kills with no attack errors and a .571 hitting percentage. Cooper is 19^th in the NSIC in blocks/set (.75). 
• Nehkyah Ellis is having a strong senior season. Six times she has cracked double figures in kills. The outside hitter is averaging 2.34 kills/set and is hitting a career-high .141. Ellis also averages 2.49 digs/set.
• Kameron Selvig has been solid setting up the Marauders attack this season. The senior setter averages a career-best 7.61 assists/set. She also chips in 2.64 digs/set and 0.36 blocks/set. Selvig went over 1,000 career assists and now sits at 1,411.  

THE STAFF
Abby Pollart returns for her third season as the head coach of Marauders Volleyball. Joining Pollart also for her third season in the program is Assistant Coach Bree Spenner, as well as Thalianette Garcia in her first season as a Graduate Assistant Coach.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
Both games this weekend will have links to live stats and live video streams which can be found at goumary.com/coverage.
 
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