Mankato, Minn. ---The Minnesota State volleyball team finished the season on a high note as they swept both Minot State and UMary to end the year with a .500 record at 14-14. The Mavericks would finish 11th in the final standings in the NSIC.

Minnesota State History: The 2021 season marked the universities 53rd season of playing women's volleyball. The Mavericks are 855-678-8 (.554) in the 1,541 matches since their inception as a varsity sport in 1968. The Mavericks completed its 13th season in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and holds a 147-111 (.569) record in 258 matches during NSIC conference play. Minnesota State has appeared in 11 NCAA Tournaments with a 2-9 record in those matches with the most recent occurring in the 2011 season where they were defeated by Concordia in three straight sets.

Looking Back One Last Time: They ended the season on high note as they notched back-to-back 3-0 sweeps of Minot State and the University of Mary. Against Minot, junior Jessica Nelson led the Mavericks in kills with 10. Nelson was aided in this effort by senior Dana Schindler as she set out 25 assists for the Mavericks. Mara Quam would once again lead the team in digs as she accumulated 13. Against UMary, the Mavericks saw Nelson and freshman Toryn Richards both hit the double-digit mark in kills with 10 each. For Nelson this was her ninth match with 10 or more kills. This was second to only Mariah Edgington who racked up 11 matches with double digits kills. Schindler, who led the Mavericks in assists this season, would lead the team with 29 assists and 12 digs against the Marauders.

Record Setter: During the 2021 season the Mavericks saw senior defensive specialist and libero, Mara Quam set a new Minnesota State all-time digs record with a total of 1,840 digs. Mara surpassed Haley Fogarty (2013-2016) who was the previous record holder with 1,741 digs. During the 2021 season Quam led the Mavericks with 445 digs which was sixth best in the NSIC.  

NSIC Individual Stat Leaders: Senior Dana Schindler ended the year ranked 15th in the conference with 532 assists in 97 sets good for 5.48 per match. Freshman Kiya Durant racked up 109 blocks in 90 sets for 1.21 per set which put her third in the conference in blocks. Senior Mara Quam who broke the all-time career digs record at Minnesota State finished the season sixth in the NSIC in digs with 445 in 101 sets good for 4.41 per set.

NSIC Fall All-Academic Team: The fall all-academic team is established by being at least a sophomore on the court as well as in the classroom. The student-athlete must have a GPA of 3.2 or better to be selected for the team. In total, there were eight Mavericks honored including one senior, two juniors and five sophomores. The senior was Mara Quam. The Juniors were Dana Schindler and Jane Sakowicz. The Sophomores included Brenna Hesse, Jessica Nelson, Mariah Edgington and Bailey Berge. Out of the eight five Mavericks were selected to the All-Academic Team of Excellence. They were Jane Sakowicz, Dana Schindler,  Brenna Hesse, Jessica Nelson and Mariah Edgington.

Fresh Faces: The Mavericks have added three athletes to their program in the early signing period that will compete in the 2022 season. Emily Kern, Maci Higgins and Gianna Trotter will join the current underclassmen next season.


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