MILWAUKEE – The Alverno Inferno hosted a three match invite today at the Reimann Gymnasium. The Mount Mary University volleyball team lost game one of the invite to host Alverno (1-0) by a score of 3-0. Then Marian University (1-0) took game three of the invite 3-1 over the Blue Angels (0-2).
MMU came out aggressive tonight against their rival. Alverno jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead, but the Blue Angels quickly got those points right back on a subsequent 4-1 stretch.
Continuing their aggressive play through the first set while leading for a majority of the set, MMU led 24-23, but two straight attack errors by the Blue Angels flipped the tables. Alverno and MMU swapped the lead four more times until the Inferno nabbed the set 28-26.
The aggressive play led to a quick 5-3 lead for the Blue Angels, but multiple rallies including a 17-3 run for Alverno led to the Inferno taking the second set 25-10.
In the third set, MMU found themselves down 5-0 early, but rallied themselves multiple times to tie the game up at 9-9. Each time, their opponent tried to pull away, the Blue Angels rattled off multiple points to counter. However, the Inferno finished the third and final set 25-22.
Rachel Barker (Sr./Milwaukee, Wis.) finished the game with a .200 kill percentage and a team leading four kills. Payton Hintz (Sr./Almond, Wis.) and freshman Johnelle Suto (Enterprise, Ore.) lead the team with 10 and seven assists respectively.
MMU continued to apply pressure in game two, this time against the Marion University Sabres.
In the first set the Blue Angels swapped the lead with the Sabres nine different times. MMU gained the lead late, and with their accurate six kills and five errors in set one, were able to maintain that lead. It marked the first winning set of the season by a score of 25-22.
Despite hitting an accurate 10 team kills and five team errors in set two, and eight team kills and six team errors in set three, the Blue Angels came up short in each of the following sets 25-21 and 25-20. In each set, the Blue Angels held a lead, but long scoring runs from the Sabres gave MU the 2-1 lead heading into the fourth set.
The Sabres took the lead early in the fourth, and never surrendered it the entire set. In their final frame of the night, the Blue Angels continued to attack, but fell short 25-10. MMU finished with three team kills on 18 total attacks in the set as the Sabres took the match.
Lauren Harris (Jr./Sheridan, Ill.) led the Blue Angels attack in the second game with nine kills and finished with a .236 kill percentage. Payton Hintz was right behind her with six kills, and also helped out with a team leading 11 assists and three service aces.
Teammate Marissa Tun (Jr./Greenfield, Wis.) led MMU with 11 digs in game two.
The Blue Angels will get back in action Fri. Sept. 8 when MMU travels to the Windy City to take on the Moody Bible Institute Archers. Live stats will be available at mtmaryathletics.com with first serve set for 7:00 pm.
