Marquette, Mich. – After falling in a thrilling match to Northern Michigan on Thursday night, Minnesota Crookston volleyball was looking to get Friday off to a good start with a victory over Lake Superior State.
 
Minnesota Crookston used a balanced attack from their attackers to defeat the Lakers in four sets.
 
Minnesota Crookston moves to 1-1 on the season.
Set One
The first set would be fairly even between the two teams meeting for the second straight season.
 
The Golden Eagles would score the first two points of the match on a pair of bad sets from the Lakers.
 
Moments later, a booming kill from Madison Carsten (Fr., OH, Wadena, Minn.) would give the Golden Eagles a 7-5 lead.
 
Back-to-back kills from Carsten and Maya Jones (Fr., OH, New Braunfels, Texas) would give the Golden Eagles a 13-11 lead, forcing a LSSU timeout.
 
LSSU would later take control of the set and go up 23-19, but the youthful Golden Eagles would fight back. Dana Melby (R-Fr., S, Gonvick, Minn.) would go on a 5-0 service run, highlighted by three straight kills from Audrey Cariveau (So., OH, Kevil, Kent.), giving the maroon and gold a 24-23 lead.
 
The set would be tied at 25, but the Golden Eagles would scrap their way to a 27-25 victory.
 
Jones and Carsten each finished with four kills in the opening set.
 
Set Two
In set two, the Lakers would jump out to an early 7-1 lead and never look back.
 
Another Cariveau kill, her fourth of the match up to that point, would cut the lead to seven at 14-7, but the maroon and gold could never get on a run in the second set, as the Lakers would side out quickly.
 
The Lakers would win the second set, 25-15.
 
Set Three
The Golden Eagles would bounce back in a big way in the third set.
 
Mara Weisensel (Sr., MH, New Ulm, Minn.) and Emma Malek (Fr., MH/RS, Plainfield, Ill.) would lead the charge early on. Malek would go on a run at the service line and Weisensel would have a pair of booming kills sandwiched in between a Carsten kill for a 6-5 lead.
 
As was the case in the first set, the third set would be back and forth. Minnesota Crookston would finally take control and take their largest lead of the set at 18-15 after a service ace from Jones.
 
The Lakers would try to get back in the set and would trail 24-22, but the freshman Jones would say "enough is enough" and finish off the third set win with a huge kill down the line, giving her a career-high seven kills at that point.
 
Set Four
Set four would see the Golden Eagles score the sets first three points, highlighted by kills from Malek and Cariveau.
 
LSSU would tie the game up at three, but in the midst of a 5-1 run, Weisensel collected another huge kill for a 9-4 lead.
 
The Lakers would chip into the lead, but for every run the Lakers would go on, the scrappy Golden Eagles would have an answer.
 
Later on in the set, LSSU would get within one on two separate occasions, but the Golden Eagles would continue to go to Jones and Cariveau for points.
 
The Golden Eagles would score the final two points for the set four win and the match win, 3-1.
 
Individual Performances
The Golden Eagles won the match because of their balance. The maroon and gold had three attackers with 10 or more kills, including Cariveau, who finished with a team-high 14 kills on 52 total attacks. Carsten and Jones finished with double-digit kills for the first time in their young career; Carsten had 11 kills on 33 total attacks, while Jones finished with 10 on 31 total attacks.
 
Melby continues to shine at the setter position, finishing with 39 assists and 13 digs, the first double-double of her career. Kailee Waasdorp (Fr., DS, West Fargo, N.D.) finished with a career-high 31 digs in the match. Her 31 digs are the most in a match by a Golden Eagles since 2019.
 
What's Next
Minnesota Crookston will play again in about an hour as they look for the sweep on the day against Northwood University.