Romeoville, Ill. - The Minnesota State volleyball team began its first day of competition at the Flyer Festival and suffered its first loss of the season to Maryville University in five sets. The Mavericks were able to bounce back in match two of the day as they swept Malone University. 

In the first match of the day the Mavericks comeback fell just short to Maryville, as MSU lost to MU in five sets (25-23, 25-19, 22-25, 22-25, 15-10). The Mavericks were haunted by sloppy play all match, as MSU committed 26 service errors in the match compared to the Saints five service errors.

The Mavericks fell down 2-0 to the Saints, even though MSU had combined for 13 more kills than MU through the first two sets. 

In sets three and four the Mavericks began to show its prowess against the Saints as they took both frames 25-22. Freshman outside hitter Nevena Vukomanovich [Maplewood, Minn.]provided a spark for the Purple and Gold as she combined for eight kills through the two sets. 

In the final frame of action, the Saints took control as they built a 10-4 lead over the Mavericks to force a MSU timeout. After the timeout, the Mavericks were able to cut the Saints lead in half, 10-7, but in the end MU took the final set, 15-10. 

The loss gives the Mavericks its first loss of the season.

In the losing effort junior middle blocker Krista Hassing [Blue Earth, Minn.] tied her career-high of 23 kills and also added four block assists, three digs and two service aces to her stat sheet. Junior middle blocker Courtney Anderson [Tripoli, Iowa] collected nine kills, while senior setter Ellie Van De Steeg [Hutchinson, Minn.] added 50 assists, 16 digs and seven kills.

In match two MSU swept Malone (25-20, 25-12, 25-19) to finish up its first day of competition.

Hassing and junior middle blocker Lexi Platz [Lafayette, Minn.] led the offensive attack as they finished with 16 and 13 kills, respectively. Hassing also accumulated a .481 attack percentage, two total blocks and one service ace, while Platz collected a .409 attack percentage of her own.

As a team the Mavericks posted a .435 attack percentage and 49 kills, while the Pioneers tallied a .160 attack percentage and 22 kills. The Purple and Gold also picked up eight service aces and 39 digs, compared to Malone's three service aces and 20 digs.

Van De Steeg again posted a match-high 39 assists and three service aces to go along with five kills and five digs. Junior libero Haley Fogarty [Bell Plaine, Minn.] posted a match-high 13 digs and also added five assists to her stat line.

The Mavericks will return back to action Saturday on day two of the Flyer Festival and will take on Ohio Dominican at 12 p.m., before taking on Lewis (Ill.) at 7 p.m.