skip navigation

Yellowjackets Defeat Finlandia

09/14/2016, 11:00am CDT
By Matt Johnson

After playing their first 10 matches away from the friendly confines of Mertz Mortorelli Gymnasium, the UW-Superior women’s volleyball team finally kicked off the home portion of their 2016 schedule Tuesday evening.

And the Yellowjackets made the most of the occasion, rallying from a one-set deficit to claim a 23-25, 25-17, 25-17, 25-23 victory over the Finlandia Lions in their season debut on the Ifan Sports Network.

With the victory, UW-Superior improved to 3-8 for the season and recorded their second victory over the Lions in less than a week.

The Yellowjackets hit .234 as a team and held Finlandia to just .141 hitting while getting 21 kills from freshman Brylee Colligan. Alexis Landherr added 14 kills for UW-Superior, which is next in action this weekend at the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference Preview when they take on UM-Morris and Martin Luther at 3 and 5 p.m. respectively on Friday.

Finlandia (3-8) came out strong in the opening set, out-hitting UW-Superior .239 to .186 to take a 1-0 lead after one.

But UW-Superior took control early in the second set, holding the Lions to just .023 hitting on the way to claiming a 25-17 win that evened the match at a set apiece.

The Yellowjackets offense remained aggressive in the third, racing out to a sizable 17-9 lead. Landherr finished off the set for UW-Superior by notching a pair of kills to provide a 25-17 victory as UW-Superior hit .394 in the frame.

The Lions battled back in the fourth set, taking a 12-8 lead on a service ace by Shannon Anderson.

Finlandia remained ahead 18-14 on a kill by Shannon Anderson before UW-Superior scored six of the next seven points for a 20-19 advantage following a kill by Colligan.

From there, the two sides battled back and forth until a kill from Landherr and a Finlandia attack error finally gave the final set to the Yellowjackets 25-23.

Sophomore setter Emily VerWay was instrumental for UW-Superior, dishing out 42 assists while adding 18 digs. Mackenzie Dahlin had 14 digs for the Yellowjackets while Jasmine Richardson finished with 10 digs.

Natalia Vazquez led the way for Finlandia with 11 kills. Emma Nelson had 27 assists and Jessie Diaz chipped in with 26 digs for the Lions.

Tag(s): UW-Superior