OMAHA, Neb. – Two wins felt pretty good for the College of Saint Mary volleyball team.
The Flames wrapped up the second day of the CSM Labor Day Classic with two victories. CSM battled back from two sets down in the opening match vs. University of Saint Mary to win 3-2. Then the Flames cruised to an easy victory over Peru State College 3-0.
CSM won the first match by scores of 14-25, 20-25, 25-16, 25-16 and 15-13. The Flames’ scores against the Bobcats were 25-21, 25-14, 25-21.
In the showdown featuring two “Saint Mary” squads, Grace Werner led the Flames with 15 kills. Teammate Liz Henrichson had 14 kills, Madisyn Havermann tallied 13 and Morgan Ramsey finished with 10. Miranda Ring tossed up 29 assists and Kaitlyn Busby had 27. Elen Pruett pushed up 20 digs and teammates Krissy Radicia and Caitlin McCormack both added 12. Azaria Green had a match-high five block assists.
“In familiar fashion we started slow and had a lot of unforced errors,” CSM Coach Rick Pruett said. “But we came back and reverse swept them. We got into a rhythm and started blocking much better. It is great to win those matches but it is not great to get in that situation and have to battle back.”
The Flames got off to a much better start against the Bobcats.
Werner again led CSM with 11 kills, Green tallied 10 and Henrichson added seven. Ring contributed 17 assists and Busby had nine. Pruett came through with eight digs and Radicia added seven.
“I’m happy that we figured out volleyball can be won in three sets – that was exciting,” Pruett joked. “Morgan Ramsey played really well for us and was aggressive at the net. I thought a lot of people were factors in our success today. It was a team effort.
“It was nice to come out 3-1 in the tournament and now we move on to our first conference match Wednesday.”
CSM plays host to Midland University at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Junior varsity starts at 6 p.m.
