CROOKSTON, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Crookston volleyball team battled back down 1-0 to upend University of Mary 3-1 (21-25, 26-24, 25-14, 25-17) on Fri., Oct. 14 at Lysaker Gymnasium. The Golden Eagles put together some of their best volleyball of the season in the final three sets, out-scoring the Marauders 25-14 while hitting .382 in a systemic victory for the Golden Eagles.

Minnesota Crookston moves to 7-11 (3-7 NSIC) with the Homecoming victory as they currently sit in a tie for 11^th with U-Mary and Upper Iowa. The Golden Eagles have an important stretch coming up with home matches Sat., Oct. 15 against Minot State University and Tues., Oct. 17 versus Bemidji State University. U-Mary falls to 8-11 (3-7 NSIC) with the loss. The Golden Eagles avenge two losses to the Marauders last season with Friday's victory.

The Golden Eagles had one of their most balanced performances of the season on Friday. Maggie Perrel (R-Jr., OH, New Germany, Minn.) led the way with 15 kills and hit .151 for the match. She completed a double-double with 11 digs.

Kassi Green (R-Jr., OH, Anoka, Minn.) had one of her best performances of her career with 14 kills and just five errors on 27 swings as she finished with a .333 hitting percentage. Kassi Green also added five service aces for the match. Her twin sister Kelci Green (R-Jr., MH, Anoka, Minn.) was a major factor late in the match. Kelci Green had nine kills and hit .318, while providing a major disruption on the block with six block assists and one solo block. Kali Erickson (Sr., OH, Fargo, N.D.) added 10 kills and hit .231. She performed especially well early on in the match for Minnesota Crookston.

Sierra Trost (Sr., S, Ham Lake, Minn.) put up a strong performance, keeping UMC in system with strong passing on the night. Trost had 36 assists and chipped in three block assists and eight digs. She helped the Golden Eagles to a .208 hitting percentage with 52 kills and 22 errors.

Defensively, Kaycie Hagen (Jr., DS/S, Savage, Minn.) came off the bench and performed well with 12 digs, while Ali Schueler (R-Fr., Lib., Howards Grove, Wis.) added nine digs. The Golden Eagles would do well on the block with 11 total blocks on the evening.

UMC was able to control outside hitter Lauren Randall for the Marauders. Randall came in averaging 4.78 kills per set on the season. Randall would be limited to eight kills and would have 10 hitting errors as she hit -.054 on the night. Thayna Silva was also controlled, hitting .034 with 10 kills and eight errors.

The middle hitters for the Marauders had a strong night as Rachel Astrup had nine kills and hit .444 and Elizabeth Garcia had eight kills and hit .400.

At setter, Janell Finkbeiner would finished with 24 assists as the Marauders hit .086 with 37 kills and 25 hitting errors.

Defensively, Geovana Almeida finished with 23 digs at libero for U-Mary. Randall chipped in 17 digs.

The Marauders would come out strong out of the gate in set one as they would lead 6-0. The Golden Eagles would rebound and would out-score U-Mary 21-19 the rest of the way. However, it would be too little, too late as U-Mary took the first set 25-21.

The Golden Eagles would fall behind again in set two, 12-8, after a Garcia kill. However, UMC would storm back and would take the lead 21-18 led by three kills from Kassi Green.

U-Mary would take a 24-22 lead in set two, but the Golden Eagles would get a strong performance out of Kassi Green with two kills and a service ace as UMC took the hard-fought set 26-24.

The Golden Eagles played great fundamental volleyball in set three as they hit .382 with 15 kills and just two errors and would take the 25-14 win over U-Mary to go up 2-1.

In set four, UMC would get up 11-6 on a Kassi Green kill. However, U-Mary would make a charge and close within 16-12 on a Finkbeiner kill. The Golden Eagles would out-score the Marauders 9-5 the rest of the way to take the 25-17 set four victory, which clinched a 3-1 win overall for the Golden Eagles.

Minnesota Crookston will return to action Sat., Oct. 15 against Minot State University.