MANKATO, Minn. - The Martin Luther College volleyball team dropped both matches of a tough triangular on Tuesday. The Knights lost 3-0 (26-24, 25-15, 25-20) to host Bethany Lutheran before losing 3-1 (25-23, 23-25, 25-22, 25-15) to Minnesota Morris to close the day.

BLC 3, MLC 0 (26-24, 25-15, 25-20)

MLC opened the day with a three-set loss to host BLC Tuesday afternoon.

The Knights and Vikings battled back and forth in the first set, but the Vikings scored the game's final two points to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

MLC was unable to control its miscues in the match, committing 22 hitting errors and eight service errors as the Vikings closed the match in three games.

Ruth Buchholz led the team with eight kills. Jewel St. Germaine recorded 15 assists, while Kati Aguilar finished with a team-high 11 digs.


UMM 3, MLC 1 (25-23, 23-25, 25-22, 25-15)

The Knights battled UMM for three sets before falling in four to close the day.

MLC went toe-to-toe with the Cougars, who were picked to finish second in the conference preseason poll. UMM took the first set, but MLC roared back to tie the match 1-1 by hitting .345 in the second set.

The Knights held a 22-20 lead late in the third set, but the Cougars came back to score the final five points of that game before winning the fourth and final set to take the match 3-1.

MLC hit .193 for the match and cut down on the errors from the BLC match. St. Germaine set a new career-high with 30 assists to go with 13 digs. Aguilar set a new personal best with 14 kills, while Kelsey Birschbach added 10 kills. Buchholz led the team with five blocks.

The Knights fell to 2-11 on the season and 2-2 in UMAC play following the two defeats. They will return to action on Saturday, September 22, when they travel to North Central for a triangular scheduled to start at 4 p.m.