Mankato, Minn.— The University of Minnesota Crookston volleyball team finished up their regular season doing battle with the Mavericks of Minnesota State.
 
The Mavericks are fighting for one of the final spots in the NSIC tournament.
 
MSU used big runs to sweep Minnesota Crookston (17-25, 16-25, 8-25).
 
Key Players
Minnesota Crookston
Deaira Gresham, 5 kills, 25 total attacks
Porsha Porath, 5 kills, 27 total attacks
Sydney Kruisselbrink, 19 assists
 
Key Players
Minnesota State
Morgan Olson, 14 kills, 34 total attacks
Jessica Nelson, 9 kills, 14 total attacks, .643 attack percentage
Dana Schindler, 34 assists
 
 
Set One
The Golden Eagles jumped out to a fast start in the first set, helped by two Porsha Porath (So., OH, Windom, Minn.) kills in the opening four points, to give the Golden Eagles a 3-1 lead early on.
 
In the first set, the Golden Eagles would have a 15-13 lead, helped by a really balanced offense and got kills from Meli Rodriguez (Sr., MH, Sarchi, Costa Rica), Sabrina Leuer (R-Sr., OH, Hamel, Minn.) and Deaira Gresham (Jr., OH, Maplewood, Minn.) to help propel the Golden Eagles to the two-point lead.
 
Lauren Wallace (R-So., OH, Bloomington, Minn.) got a kill to regain the lead for the Golden Eagles.
 
Minnesota State would go on a giant run in the end of the first set, to win, 25-17.
 
Set Two
The trio of Porath, Wallace and Gresham helped Minnesota Crookston jump out to a quick 5-2 lead in the second set. Porath had two kills, while Gresham and Wallace each had one kill early on.
 
Minnesota State would have a 3-0 run to take the lead, which was halted by an error from the Mavericks to give the Golden Eagles a point, but MSU immediately followed with another 3-0 run, which once again was halted after an attack error from Morgan Olson.
 
The Mavericks were able to create separation in the second set and although the Golden Eagles would try to get back in the second set, it wasn't enough, as the Mavericks won the set 25-16 to go up in the match two sets to none.
 
Set Three
The Mavericks got out to a fast 7-1 start, before Kaitlin Sikkink (R-Sr., MH, St. Charles, Minn.) collected a kill to make it 7-2 Mavericks.
 
MSU would extend their lead to 15-4, but Leuer collected one of her four kills on the night to cut the Maverick lead back to 10.
 
The Mavericks would lead by as much as 15, at 20-5, but the Golden Eagles would try and chip away, and did, cutting the Mavericks lead to 20-8.
 
The Mavericks would have more than enough of a lead and eventually won the final set, 25-8 to win the match, three sets to none.
 
The Golden Eagles finish up the regular season 4-24 overall and will replace five valuable seniors in Sikkink, Leuer, Rodriguez, Alyssa Thomas (Sr., DS, Marion, Iowa) and Ali Schueler (R-Sr., DS/Lib., Howards Grove, Wis.).