Photo by Jake Przytarski Marshall’s Bria Morris rises up for a kill during their match against Luverne on Tuesday. The Tigers defeated the Cardinals 3-0.

MARSHALL – Leading up to Thursday’s Big South Conference matchup against Luverne, Marshall volleyball head coach Dan Westby wanted to see faster starts from his team. Apparently, they heard him loud and clear.

The Tigers established control of the match right from the beginning of Set 1 with a crucial six-point run that they rode to their first of three consecutive set wins for a decisive sweep of the visiting Cardinals.

Westby came away especially pleased by the sharp-play of the team in the opening set.

“I thought we were able to get off to a better start here,” said Westby. “It was good to see our kids come out (with a fast start) and we were pretty crisp in that first set.”

In addition to the fast start, Westby praised the team’s fast pace of play that proved to be too much for the Cardinals to handle.

“That’s another thing we talk a lot about is playing at a fast pace,” said Westby. “Sometimes that’s hard to do, but I thought our kids were able to do that here again tonight.”

The quick pace was evident in the opening set as the Tigers took the lead at 5-4 and kept rolling with a six-point rally highlighted by one of Logan Sherman’s team-leading three aces to give Marshall a 10-4 lead. The momentum carried over all the way to the final point with Marshall closing out the one-sided set with a five-point run to win 25-11.

The Cardinals did their best to get the momentum back on their side in the next set by taking two of the first three points before the Tigers re-established control and dominated the rest of the way through. Mia Schnaible and Emily Meier helped provide a spark with a pair of aces on Marshall’s dominant stretch that gave the Tigers a 14-5 lead via a 12-3 run. Keeping their foot on the gas, the Tigers took Set 2, 25-9.

With an energetic student section cheering them on, the Tigers left nothing to chance in the third and final set by jumping out to an 8-1 lead via a dominant eight-point run. The Cardinals went on to battle back and go point for point with Marshall to make it 14-8, but it was too little too late as the Tigers settled in and dominated all the way to the final point en route to a 25-12 third set win and match victory.

With the win, the Tigers move to 5-0 on the season, and will look to continue their impressive run into the weekend when they host Minneota, Russell-Tyler-Ruthton, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton and Yellow Medicine East and other teams at the Southwest Challenge at SMSU’s R/A Facility.

Looking ahead, Westby hopes to see his team come ready to play in all five of their matches this weekend.

“The next competition we have is our tournament on Friday and Saturday and we’re going to have to be ready to play five times,” said Westby. “It’s five matches against five quality opponents so we’re going to have to be ready to go.”

KILLS: Marshall (Andries 8, Morris 5, Meier 4, Sherman 4, Hilgemann 3).

SERVING (Ace): Marshall (Sherman 15-15 (3), Schnaible 7-7 (1), Meier 5-6 (2)).

DIGS: Marshall (Schnaible 27, Hilgemann 9, Sherman 8, Schwarz 7).

SET ASSISTS: Marshall (Schwarz 18, Sherman 11).

BLOCKS: Marshall (Andries 4, Sherman 3, Meier 1, Morris 1, Knudson 1).