ABERDEEN, S.D. – The University of Minnesota Crookston volleyball team battled back down 2-1 to take a 3-2 (18-25, 25-21, 21-25, 27-25, 15-10) win over Minot State University in the first game of the Max & Erma's Classic Sat., Sept. 8 at Wachs Arena in Aberdeen, S.D. The Golden Eagles struggled to maintain consistency and close out sets in the first and third, but used strong performances in the second, fourth and fifth sets to upend their NSIC counterparts from Minot, N.D. in a non-conference tilt.

Minnesota Crookston improved to 2-3 with Friday's win. Minot State drops to 3-2 on the season. Both teams are under first-year head coaches with Sarah Rauen in her first year with U of M Crookston and Dana Cordova in her first year at Minot State.

The Golden Eagles were led by a strong performance from Kassi Green (R-Sr., OH, Anoka, Minn.), who powered the team with 25 kills and a .328 hitting percentage. Green came through in big moments during the match. She also added three service aces, 17 digs and three block assists. In addition to Green, Minnesota Crookston had big matches from a number of players. Kaitlin Sikkink (R-So., MH, St. Charles, Minn.) had 12 kills and hit .545. Kelci Green (R-Sr., MH, Anoka, Minn.) added 10 kills and six block assists. Deaira Gresham (Fr., OH, Maplewood, Minn.) was strong offo f the bench with 11 kills on the match.

At setter, Kaycie Hagen (Sr., S, Savage, Minn.) led the way with 43 assists. She helped the Golden Eagles to a .291 hitting percentage with 69 kills and 18 service aces. Alex Oakes (R-So., S, Cloquet, Minn.) was strong off the bench with 16 assists.

Defensively, Minnesota Crookston used a well-balanced effort with five players tallying double-digit digs. Green led the way with 17. Libero Maggie Perrel (R-Sr., New Germany, Minn.) added 14 digs, while Hagen tallied 13.

Minot State hit .257 on the match with 70 kills and 21 errors. The Beavers looked to 22 kills from Shelby Spuller, who hit .306 for the match. Jeanne Brenner added 19 kills, while Brileigh Boyce had 13. At setter, Kelsey Dewulf paced the Beavers with 57 assists.

Defensively, Minot State looked to 32 digs from their libero Karli Koza. Dewulf and Spuller added 13 digs. On the block, Emily Falldorf had four block assists.

Minot State would open up the first set by taking a 3-0 lead as the Golden Eagles had a pair of attack errors. The Golden Eagles would be able to pull within 4-3 on a Kassi Green kill. The Beavers would come right back and extend their advantage to 7-3 on a Jeanne Brenner kill. Minot State moved their lead to 11-6 on a Shelby Spuller kill. Minnesota Crookston would come within five points at 16-11 following a bad set from Kelsey Dewulf. However, Minot State responded with the next three points to extend their lead to 19-11. The Beavers would build off of their momentum to take the first set 25-18.

The Beavers got out to a 4-1 lead in the second set following a Boyce kill. Minnesota Crookston would knot the set up 5-5 following a bad set by Dewulf. The Golden Eagles took the lead on a Gresham kill to make it 6-5 using a 5-1 run. The Golden Eagles extended their lead to 9-6 on a block by Gresham and Kelci Green. Minot State came right back with a 3-0 run to knot it up 9-9 on a Gresham attack error. The U of M Crookston quickly stopped the run and took the lead back 10-9 on a Kelci Green kill.  Minot State would knot the game back up at 12-12 following a Spuller kill. However, Kelci Green came through in the clutch again with another kill to make it 13-12. The Golden Eagles extended their lead to 18-14 on an Falldorf attack error. Minot State would not go away as they used a 4-0 run to tie it up 18-18 following a Kassi Green attack error. The Beavers would take the lead 19-18 after a Mekayla Gurley service ace. Minnesota Crookston came right back using a 7-2 run and a kill from Kassi Green to take the frame 25-21.
 
The Beavers took an early 8-5 lead in the third set. Minot State would be able to extend their lead to 13-8 on a Gresham attack error. The Golden Eagles closed the game to 15-12 following a Kassi Green block. Minnesota Crookston would continue their run and cut the lead to 15-14 on a Brenner attack error.  Minot State would be able to fend the Golden Eagles off for the time being with a kill from Boyce to make it 17-14. Minnesota Crookston would mount a comeback and tie the set up at 19-19 following a Brenner attack error. The Beavers took the lead back at 22-21 with a Falldorf kill. Minot State would build off of their momentum to close out the third set as they took the frame 25-21 on a Gresham attack error.

Minnesota Crookston got out to an early 6-4 lead in the fourth set following a Hayley Swain attack error. The Golden Eagles extended their advantage to 8-5 on a Kassi Green service ace. Minot State used a 3-0 run to tie the match up 8-8 on a Spuller kill. The U of M Crookston took the lead back 9-8 with a Gresham kill. The Beavers came right back and tied it up 9-9 with a Swain kill. They would take the lead 10-9 with a kill by Dewulf. Minnesota Crookston did not go away though as they would knot it up 10-10 with a kill by Alyssa Muelken (Sr., MH, Savage, Minn.). The Golden Eagles and Beavers would continue to trade leads up until it was tied 13-13 following a kill from Kassi Green. That is when Minnesota Crookston built off their momentum and took a 15-13 lead on a Kelci Green kill. The Beavers would tie it up again 17-17 with a kill from Brenner. However, Minnesota Crookston came right back and took the lead on Kassi Green's 18^th kill of the match to make it 18-17. Minot State took the lead in the match 21-20 on a Brenner kill. However, a service error on the next point would knot it back up 21-21. The Beavers took the lead back 22-21 on a Boyce kill and would extend their lead to 23-21. The Golden Eagles would knot the match up 24-24 after back-to-back kills from Kassi Green and a Brenner attack error. Minot State took the lead back 25-24 on a kill from Spuller. Kassi Green struck right back to knot it up 25-25.  The Golden Eagles took the fourth set 27-25 on a Brenner attack error.

The Golden Eagles and Beavers traded points up until the score was knotted at 4-4. Minnesota Crookston took the lead and extended their advantage to 6-4. Kassi Green's kill and service ace would put the lead at 8-5 U of M Crookston. The Golden Eagles would continue to control the set. They would take the 15-10 set win and a 3-2 match victory.

Minnesota Crookston will return to action at 4:45 p.m. against South Dakota School of Mines & Technology at Wachs Arena in Aberdeen, S.D.