Crookston, Minn.—The Golden Eagles hosted Minnesota State for their alumni game on Saturday afternoon in Lysaker Gymnasium.
The Golden Eagles battled hard and won the second set in exciting fashion, but ultimately fell to the Mavericks in four sets (14-25, 27-25, 21-25, 9-25).
Minnesota Crookston falls to 2-8 (0-2 NSIC), while the Mavericks improve to 9-1 (2-0 NSIC).
Key Players
Minnesota Crookston
Porsha Porath, 13 kills, 42 total attacks, 6 digs
Sabrina Leuer, 5 kills, 18 total attacks, .222 attack percentage
Sydney Kruisselbrink, 21 assists, 2 service aces
Key Players
Minnesota State Mankato
Morgan Olson, 17 kills, 31 total attacks, 2 service aces
Ashton Lee, 13 kills, 27 total attacks
Anissa Janzig, 11 kills, 19 total attacks, .421 attack percentage
Set One
For the second straight night, the Golden Eagles were slow out of the gates in the opening set. The Mavericks used two service aces from Jessica Nelson and a kill from Haley Shimon to jump out to an early 3-0 lead.
Hannah Stark (So., OH, Esko, Minn.) got the Golden Eagles on the board with a kill right down the line to make it 3-1.
Down 10-4, Minnesota Crookston would storm back helped by a
Porsha Porath (So., OH, Windom, Minn.). The Mavericks would take control after that point, to win set one, 25-14.
Set Two
The Golden Eagles would answer back nicely in set two. With the Golden Eagles trailing 8-6, Minnesota Crookston would rattle off four in a row, helped by
Alyssa Thomas (Sr., DS, Marion, Iowa), who got a kill and a service ace in that run.
The Mavericks would answer right back to knot things up at 10, after kills from Janzig and Lee.
The two teams would go back and forth, as the second set would see a whopping seven ties. The score would be tied at 16, before the Golden Eagles rattled off four more points, the second 4-0 run of the set.
The Golden Eagles would lead 22-18, before the Mavericks stormed back to tie the set at 22. Minnesota Crookston would score two in a row, with the help of a kill from
Sabrina Leuer (R-Sr., OH, Hamel, Minn.) and an attack error from the Mavs to get set point at 24-22.
The Mavericks quieted down the crowd with back-to-back points to once again tie things up at 24.
The Golden Eagles would have three set points in the second set and finally put the set away with a
Sydney Kruisselbrink (Jr., S, Rochester, Minn.) kill to win set two 27-25.
Set Three
Set three would also be a competitive set. Both teams couldn't seem to pull away, until the Mavericks scored six in a row trailing 11-9, to jump ahead 15-11.
The Golden Eagles would try and claw back as
Kaitlin Sikkink (R-Sr., MH, St. Charles, Minn.) took a Kruisselbrink set and got the maroon and gold back within three at 16-13.
That's the closest that the Golden Eagles would get, as the Mavericks won set three 25-21.
Set Four
Set number four would be all Mavericks who would jump out to a quick 11-2 lead and would never look back.
The Golden Eagles would try to come back later on in the set, but the Mavericks would hold off the Golden Eagles and win set four 25-9.
Minnesota Crookston is back on the road next weekend for another weekend of NSIC play. The Golden Eagles play at Upper Iowa on Friday at 6 PM in Fayette, Iowa, then will travel north to Winona for a date with the Warriors of Winona State at 2 PM on Saturday.
