Blue Devils take two matches at St. Norbert, down Rockford and Green Knights

UW-Stout 3, Rockford University 0 | Stout 3, St. Norbert 2

DEPERE (October 8, 2021) - UW-Stout put a three-game skid to rest by sweeping a pair of matches at St. Norbert College Friday night. The Blue Devils defeated Rockford University, 3-0, then came back from two sets down to force five sets to defeat the host Green Knights, 3-2, in a tight contest..

With the win over St. Norbert, the Blue Devils (11-8) exacted a bit of revenge. Stout had lost 3-0 to St. Norbert Sept. 11 at the UW-Oshkosh Polito's Invitational. Tonight, St. Norbert looked like it may take the Blue Devils in three sets again, winning the first two sets, 25-17, 27-25. But the Blue Devis came back to grab the final three sets, needing to go overtime in two of the sets to finish out the match, 25-22, 26-24, 16-14.

In the fifth set, Stout jumped out to an 11-6 lead, but saw St. Norbert (13-11) come back to pull to within 11-9. The teams traded points and Stout led 13-11, only to see St. Norbert tie the score at 13. Emily Cain put down one of her career-best15 kills to give Stout a 14-13 lead. A Stout service error tied the score at 14, but Jessica Barr put the lead back on Stout's side with a kill. An attack error by the Green Knights gave Stout the match. 

Sidney Hoverman played a solid game offensively and defensively, where she finished with a team-high 18 kills, had four block assists and recorded a career-high 32 digs, the most digs by an individual Blue Devil this season. 

Barr finished with 15 kills, her fourth consecutive match with double-digit kills. Barr also had two block assists. 

Elise Banitt notched a team season-best five service aces, Staci Meyer finished with 26 digs and Lexie Nelson set a career-best with 49 assists and added four block assists. 

St. Norbert got a match-high 21 kills from Molly Rader and 20 kills from Grace Baumann. Liz Maastricht finished with 41 digs. 

In the opener, the Blue Devils rolled through Rockford (2-15) led by Hoverman's 15 kills. Hoverman hit at a comfortable pace, committing only two errors in 28 attacks for a hitting percentage of .464, her second-best mark of the season. Barr also made few mistakes, putting down 10 kills with only one error for a hitting percentage of. .291. Cain and Morgen Geiger each had six kills and Nelson finished with five kills and 34 assists. 

Stout won the first two sets by identical 25-15 scores, but Rockford did come back to make the third set a battle before Stout took the 25-22 win.

The Blue Devils return to action Wednesday, Oct.13 when they travel to nationally ranked University of Northwestern, then return home to host UW-Oshkosh, Friday, Oct. 15.