Photo by Sam Thiel Marshall’s Emily Meier tips the ball over the net during their match against Worthington on Thursday. Marshall defeated Worthington 3-0.

MARSHALL — With only a pair of matches now left on their schedule due to the newest COVID-19 restrictions, the Marshall volleyball team wanted to keep its momentum going against Worthington. Marshall did just that, using key runs in each of their sets to earn a 3-0 (25-17, 25-12, 25-14) victory on Thursday night.

Marshall coach Dan Westby said they were able to achieve their goal of putting multiple kids in the rotation but felt they made some uncharacteristic mistakes at times throughout the night.

“I think all three sets both teams were able to get to 10 at about the same time, but then after that we were able to put together some runs and pull away in all three sets. One of the goals coming into this match was we felt like we wanted to play a lot of kids and we did that. A lot of kids got a lot of playing time, so that was a good thing,” Westby said. “And maybe sometimes when you do that it can be difficult to find a rhythm and I think that might have been part of the case but it felt like we made some uncharacteristic mistakes and we feel like those things shouldn’t happen, especially at this time of the year.”

The first set was back-and-forth to start, as the score was deadlocked at three apiece before Worthington took a 9-6 advantage. Marshall quickly responded, though, scoring the next four points to retake the lead at 10-9 before improving its advantage to 18-13. Worthington would get as close as three at 19-16, but Marshall finished the frame on a 6-1 run to take Set 1, 25-17.

Set 2 saw another tight battle in the beginning stages, this time with Marshall taking a slim 5-4 lead. The Tigers quickly gained some momentum over the next few possessions and used an 8-2 run to build a 13-6 lead. Marshall then increased its lead to double digits at 18-8 and never looked back, claiming the second set 25-12 and a 2-0 lead in the match.

Both teams traded points at the start of Set 3, with the game tied at 5-5 before Marshall took an 8-7 advantage. The Tigers continued to create separation by going on an 8-1 run to push their lead to 16-8 and later built another double-digit advantage at 21-11 before taking Set 3, 25-14 to earn the sweep.

Jordyn Hilgemann recorded 10 kills for Marshall while Emily Meier added nine and Tessa Gannott and Taylor Ariasola each had four. Caitlyn Christenson, Ashleigh Steinbach and Morgan Hart each had eight digs while Maysa Gillingham recorded 21 set assists.

Up next

Marshall (10-0) will finish their 2020 season with a 6 p.m. matchup against New Ulm today in the Big South Conference championship.