WATERTOWN, Wis. – Junior Aislinn Strusz (Aurora, Ill./West Aurora) tallied a career-high 18 kills and freshman Emma White (Scottsdale, Ariz./Saguaro) doled out a career-best 44 assists, but the Mount Mary University volleyball team fell just short against Maranatha Baptist University Thursday evening at MBU Gymnasium, 25-20, 23-25, 25-19, 9-25, 16-14.
The Sabercats improved to 9-10 on the season, three of those wins coming over MMU over the last four weeks. Mount Mary fell to 5-17 overall.
Strusz and White were instrumental in the Blue Angels' offense success Thursday night, which finished with a season-best 52 kills as a team. Strusz recorded her first career double-double with 14 digs to accompany her match-high 18 kills and a pair of service aces. White's 44 assists and eight service aces were also career-highs, complementing eight digs.
Sophomore Brianna Ecker (Fond du Lac, Wis./Stockbridge) was one-off her season-high in kills Thursday with 16, adding 14 digs for her eighth double-double of the year. Freshman Morgan Vander Kooy (Fond du Lac, Wis./St. Mary's Springs) added 10 kills, her first double-figure effort of the year.
Junior Lauren Nylund (Muskego, Wis./Muskego), sporting the libero jersey Thursday, led the MMU defense with 19 digs—also a season-high.
The opening three sets featured several long service runs that resulted in a 2-1 lead for MBU. Not to be outdone in the fourth, Mount Mary turned a 14-9 lead into a 25-9 final set score off the arm of White—an 11-point clinic on defense-to-offense execution featuring five kills from Vander Kooy and a pair from Strusz.
Locked at two sets apiece, MMU surged out to a 5-1 run before Maranatha Baptist battled back, tying the set at 6-6 and eventually earning match point at 14-11 off a kill from the middle. The Blue Angels sided out off ensuing MBU service and attack errors, followed by a perfect shot by Ecker deep into the corner to lock the set back up at 14-14. After an MMU service error, the Sabercats rejoiced when a controversial encroachment call on an MBU overpassed dig ended the match in favor of the hosts.
Mount Mary will return to action Saturday, traveling to Rockford University for a triangular against Alverno and the host Regents. The MMU/Alverno matchup is slated to start at approximately 6:30 p.m., shortly after completion of the Rockford/Alverno match.
