St. Bonifacius, Minn. – The Storm volleyball team battled the 17^th ranked UNW Eagles on Friday night, pushing the top team in the UMAC hard in the second set, but ultimately falling by scores of 25-10, 25-20, 25-8. 

The Eagles used a .375 hitting percentage to put the pressure on the Crown defense and won comfortably in the first and third sets.

The Storm showed fight in the second set, hanging with UNW through the middle of the set at 13-13.  It was the Crown attack that did the heavy lifting early in set two, recording seven kills and two aces through the first 13 points. 

A 4-0 run by the Eagles opened up a slim lead that the Storm just couldn't recover from, never getting closer than four points away the rest of the set. 

Gracie Zieroth and Jocelynn Shockley each had six kills to lead the Storm, while Talana Rudzitis had 14 assists.  Sage Johnston anchored the defense with nine digs. 

Crown hosts North Central in another UMAC matchup Saturday at 1 p.m.