Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Golden, Colo. –  The Minnesota State volleyball team lost a pair of matches to the Colorado Christian Cougars and the Northwest Nazarene Crusaders with scores of  3-2 and 3-0, respectively, in its final day at the Oredigger Volleyball Classic.

The Mavericks began day two with a 3-2 loss to the Colorado Christian Cougars by the scores of  25-23, 24-26, 21-25, 25-20 and 15-13.

Colorado Christian jumped out to a 9-4 lead over the Mavericks in set one. MSU was able to tie the set back up at 19-19, but CCU was too much and won 25-23. Sophomore Krista Hassing posted five kills with a .571 attack percentage while junior Chandra Honebrink recorded a .667 attack percentage with four kills on six attempts. 

In set two, it was back and forth throughout the set as the two teams were tied at 24-24. MSU won the set 26-24 with the help of a service error by CCU and a set-winning kill by freshman Sydney Powell. Hassing and Powell each finished the set with seven kills while junior Ellie Van De Steeg added 17 helpers.

The Mavericks in set three jumped out to a 16-12 advantage over the Cougars. CCU clawed its way back to tie the set 20-20, but MSU scored the next five out of six opportunities to end the set with a Purple and Gold victory at 25-21. Freshman Vikolia Meade posted four kills on five opportunities. Powell added another six kills while Van De Steeg finished with another 14 assists.

In the fourth set, the Cougars were able to lead throughout while the Mavericks stayed close to the lead but CCU held on for the 25-20 win.

In the fifth and final set CCU took advantage of its opportunities and never looked back. The Cougars were able to win the last set 15-13.  Powell posted another five kills to her stat sheet while Van De Steeg recorded 10 more assists.

Powell paced the Maverick offense with 23 kills and a .395 attack percentage. Hassing added another 19 kills as Van De Steeg contributed 61 assists. Honebrink posted 13 kills and 12 digs, while Meade tallied 10 kills and a .692 attack percentage.

In match two of the day, the Mavericks were swept, 3-0 by the Northwest Nazarene Crusaders by the scores of 25-19, 25-20 and 25-17.

In set one of the match, the Crusaders jumped out to a 12-8 lead over the Mavericks and were able to stay in control throughout the rest of the set en route to a 25-19 set victory. Powell led the Mavericks with four kills while Van De Steeg added nine assists.

The Mavericks and Crusaders were all square at 9-9 in the second set of the match until NNU went on a run to make it 17-13 in its favor. MSU ended up losing the set 25-20 to NNU. Hassing posted four kills and a .364 attack percentage, while Van De Steeg added 10 more helpers in the set.

In the third and final set the Crusaders jumped out to an early lead against the Mavericks and never looked back. MSU ended up losing the set to NNU 25-17. Van De Steeg posted another 11 assists as Hassing added another four kills and a .333 attack percentage.

Pacing the Maverick offense for the match was Hassing with 10 kills, while Van De Steeg recorded 30 assists. Honebrink added eight kills and 10 digs to her stat sheet, while Powell added six kills in the match.

For their efforts, Hassing and Van De Steeg were both named to the Oredigger Volleyball Classic All-Tournament Team. Hassing finished the tourney with 63 kills (4.20 per. set), a .292 attack percentage and 13 total blocks. Van De Steeg ended the tournament with 183 assists (12.2 per. set), 19 kills, a .375 attack percentage and 26 digs.

The next time the Mavericks will hit the court will be on Sept. 12 at the Maverick Invitational. MSU will face Upper Iowa and Wayne State (Neb.) at 9:00 a.m. and 7 p.m., respectively.