St. Cloud, Minn.—After falling earlier this afternoon in three sets to Michigan Tech, the Golden Eagles were looking to bounce back against the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology this evening to wrap up non-conference play.
 
It took yet another five set match, the fourth already for the Golden Eagles, but the maroon and gold were able to come back and knock off the Hardrockers to halt a five match losing streak (25-21, 22-25, 21-25, 25-13, 15-13).
 
With the win, the Golden Eagles improve to 2-6 on the young season.
 
Key Players
Minnesota Crookston
Porsha Porath, 23 kills, 63 total attacks, .238 hitting percentage, 14 digs
Lauren Wallace, 12 kills, 34 total attacks, .265 hitting percentage,
Sydney Kruisselbrink, 7 kills, .353 hitting percentage, 38 assists, 2 service aces, 5 blocks
 
Key Players
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
Dana Thomson, 17 kills, 58 total attacks
Jacey Koethe, 14 kills, .258 hitting percentage
Hannah Stevenson, 10 kills, 2 blocks
 
Set One
The Golden Eagles played a solid match in their first match of the day against Michigan Tech and that carried over into set number one.
 
The Hardrockers jumped out to a 5-3 lead and eventually led 8-7, before the Golden Eagles took control. It all started with a Sydney Kruisselbrink (Jr., S, Rochester, Minn.) kill and that opened the flood gate in the opening set. Minnesota Crookston would go on a 5-0 run before the Hardrockers stopped the run.
 
Minnesota Crookston would answer right back with four more points, capped off by a Katie Lienemann (Jr., DS/Lib., Rosemount, Minn.) service ace to jump ahead 16-9.
 
That Hardrockers would make a run, but the Golden Eagles were able to hold off to win set one 25-21.
 
Set Two
Set two was a set that saw eight ties, but with the score tied at eight, the Hardrockers would go on a run and take a 19-13 lead.
 
The Golden Eagles would fight back. After trailing 23-20, Minnesota Crookston would use one of Porsha Porath's 23 kills and another Lienemann ace to cut the Hardrocker lead to 23-22.
 
The Hardrockers would score two straight to win the second set to tie match up at one apiece.
 
Set Three
Set three would be another back and forth affair between the two programs. The Hardrockers would jump out to a quick 3-0 lead, before the Golden Eagles scored two in a row helped by a kill from Lauren Wallace (R-So., OH, Bloomington, Minn.).
 
The Hardrockers would lead 13-6, but much like the have for a majority of the season, the Golden Eagles would answer back by scoring three straight points, helped by two Hardrocker errors.
 
The Hardrockers would take a 23-19 lead, but yet another Golden Eagle service ace, this time by Ali Schueler (R-Sr., DS/Lib., Howards Grove, Wis.), would cut the lead to 23-21, but much like they did in the previous set, the Hardrockers scored two in a row, to win the third set and have a chance to win the match in set four.
 
Set Four
With their backs against the wall, Minnesota Crookston dominated set number two. Helped by a 5-0 and a 4-0 run, Minnesota Crookston started fast and never looked back, winning 25-13.
 
Set two would be the Porath show, who collected six kills, including back-to-back kills and even had a block to get the scoring started for the Golden Eagles.
 
Shelby Dunbar (Fr., MH, Fertile, Minn.) added on to the service ace party by finishing off the set with an ace of her own.
 
Set Five
In five set matches this season, the Golden Eagles are 1-2. That can now be changed to 2-2.
 
The Golden Eagles would jump out to a 4-2 start, helped out by two more Porath kills. The Hardrockers would tie it up at four, but the Golden Eagles would rally off three in a row, helped by a Kaitlin Sikkink (R-Sr., MH, St. Charles, Minn.) kill to start the scoring.
 
The Hardrockers would get the score to 7-6, but the Golden Eagles yet again rattled off three points in a row to lead 10-6.
 
Minnesota Crookston would never look back, as they finish off the Hardrockers for the 15-13 victory.
 
Minnesota Crookston wraps up their non-conference part of their schedule at 2-6 and will start out NSIC play next weekend with traditional power Concordia-St. Paul. First serve is set for 6 p.m., from newly renovated Lysaker Gymnasium on Friday night.