Roseville, Minn. — The Crown volleyball team found their first conference win of the season with a dominating win over North Central. Their day started with a conference game against #12 Northwestern, who they lost to again in three sets as the UNW team looks towards another NCAA tournament run. However, after the match against the Eagles, something clicked as they were able to beat North Central 25-15, 25-23, and 25-9.
In the first set vs. North Central, the Crown Storm were tied at five before a 9-0 run improved their lead to 14-5;
Alayna Kohler was serving during that run. They remained relatively even with North Central other than that run, winning by ten. In set two, the game battled close, with neither team gaining a huge edge throughout the game. Crown was able to pull out the victory despite a small comeback at the end by North Central. In set three, after a Roschen-serving opening 5-0 run, the team had another 10-0 run while Kohler was serving put the game out of reach early, giving Crown the outstanding victory with a score of 25-9 to finalize their first UMAC win of the season.
Christine Anderson led Crown in aces (3), blocks (2), and kills (9), with Kohler just behind Anderson in all three categories (two aces, a block, eight kills). Senior
Kelsey Roschen had 21 assists and nine digs, and
Josie Parker had ten digs in the match. Kohler was once again just behind Parker and Roschen with seven digs of her own.
Against Northwestern, Anderson and
Kaitlin Ruiter led the Storm with four kills,
Karissa Steinkamp led with two blocks, Parker led with eleven digs, and Roschen led with 12 assists.
Crown's next set of games is their first home games of the season, with matchups against conference rivals UW-Superior and UM-Morris. Games start at 2 pm in the Wild Athletic Center.
