CASTINE, Maine – St. Norbert College recorded a split of matches on its second day of competition at Maine Maritime Academy.
St. Norbert started the day with a 3-0 win over SUNY Cobleskill by scores of 25-12, 25-18, 25-19. The Green Knights then suffered a 3-2 loss to Maine Maritime for the second-straight day, this time by scores of 19-25, 25-20, 25-19, 20-25, 15-10.
Against Cobleskill, the Green Knights opened the match with a 9-1 run and were never seriously threatened en route to a 1-0 lead. Cobleskill had leads of 8-6 and 14-12 in Set 2 before a 10-1 St. Norbert run took the mystery out of the set result. The Green Knights then had to hold off the Tigers again in Set 3, pulling away from an 18-18 tie with a 7-1 finishing kick.
St. Norbert hit .244 for the match, with 37 kills against 18 errors in 78 attempts.
Gracie Buss turned in a team-high nine kills, while
Sophia Prins added seven and
Anna Kudick and
Clare Williams six apiece.
Mickenzi Benter finished with 21 assists. St. Norbert had 12 service aces, with Williams posting three and
Katie Schmidt,
Mya Kapalko and
Maddie Kitowski all getting two each.
Kitowski and Benter led the back row with seven digs apiece.
Emma Dries finished with three blocks, while Williams had two.
Against Maine Maritime, which has advanced to the NCAA Division III Tournament in seven of the last eight championships, the Green Knights slowly pulled away from a closely fought Set 1, scoring the last four points to finish off a 21-19 lead. The Mariners led for most of Set 2 and Set 3 in taking a 2-1 lead. The Green Knights responded in Set 4, building a lead as large as 19-12 before closing out a win to level the match at 2-2. St. Norbert never led in Set 5, getting to within 6-4 and 7-5 before the Mariners scored three-straight points to build a 10-5 lead and eventually gain victory.
The Green Knights hit .246, with 68 kills against 26 errors in 171 attacks.
Mari Szews turned in a big afternoon, registering 18 kills against one error in 25 attempts to hit .680.
Casey Vaughan added 14 kills and Kudick had 11.
Heidi Colburn totaled 47 assists and five service aces.
Kara Sowinski posted 20 digs, with Colburn adding 16. Szews and
Kirsten Klatt had two blocks apiece.
Maine Maritime hit .232, with 58 kills against 20 errors in 164 swings.
