New Ulm, MN - The MLC volleyball team hosted St. Mary's and Luther College for the MLC Triangular on Saturday in the LSC gymnasium. The Knights played both teams earlier in non conference tournaments, falling to St. Mary's 3-0 and Luther 3-1. On Saturday, the Knights played hard in their home opener, but the Cardinals beat them 3-0 in the first match up. Meanwhile, the Norse defeated MLC 3-0 in the later match.

St. Mary's 3, MLC 0

The Knights battled in the first two sets before the Cardinals topped them 25-21, 25-16, 25-8. MLC had a good opportunity to win the first set, trading blows in the back-and-forth set before St. Mary's buckled down to get a few more points at the end.

St. Mary's improved its hitting percentage in the second (.250) and third set (.350) to complete the match in three sets. Kali Olson and Brenna Bruchert made a big difference for the Cardinals as Olson had a .522 hitting percentage with 12 kills and Bruchert had a .333 hitting percentage with 13 kills.

Lydia Feidt (8) and Greta Nolte (6) led the Knights in the kills category. Anna Kieselhorst had a team-best 10 digs, while Feidt picked up nine.

Luther 3, MLC 0

MLC almost came back in the opening set, but the Norse managed to hold them off and took the first set 25-23. The Knights had flashes of momentum in the second and third sets. However, Luther defeated them 25-18 and 25-19 and did it with few errors on the court, with just 10 miscues.

Azaria McDonough had an impact as a setter, dishing out 24 assists, and the Norse got many rallies started with Jenna Langen (11 digs), Ella Goodnight (10), and Victoria Gomez (10).

Feidt notched a double-double with 11 kills and 10 digs, while Walz had 15 assists and a couple of aces.

Freshman Kourtney Zech recorded double-digit assists (10), and Nolte had nine digs for the Knights.

MLC begins conference play in a few days, hosting Bethany for a 7 p.m. match on Tuesday, September 23.