RIPON, Wisconsin — The Ripon volleyball program split the opening day of a tournament for the third consecutive weekend, sweeping Maranatha Baptist before falling to St. Scholastica at the Red Hawks Invitational.
 
Ripon handled business against Maranatha Baptist 25-10, 25-7, 25-15 before succumbing to the Saints 25-18, 25-22, 25-23.
 
In the opener, Ripon (6-4) had little trouble handling Maranatha Baptist (0-5) for the second time this season. The Red Hawks raced out to a 10-4 set one lead, and after MBU cut its deficit to four at 11-7, Ripon went on a 7-1 run to grab a double digit advantage. The Red Hawks ended the set with five consecutive points – and three consecutive kills by Nickie Shaw, Sophia Brinker and Alyssa Murry – to take the early lead.
 
Set two was Ripon's most dominant set of the season, holding the Sabercats to just seven points. The Red Hawks scored the first five points and quickly went up double digits at 13-3. Just once the rest of the set would Maranatha come within single digits; the Red Hawk scored seven of the last eight points and went up 2-0 in the match.
 
Set three was a bit more even in the early going; Ripon was doubling up MBU 8-4 before the Sabercats came back with four consecutive points. Maranatha held a 10-9 lead moments later, but it would be its last lead of the match as kills by Haylee Kast and Lainie Heizler put Ripon in front for good. An 8-1 spurt gave Ripon a 21-13 cushion, and a service ace by Samantha Differt finished it off put Ripon in the win column for the third consecutive game.
 
Ellie Ove was the star for Ripon in game one; the senior had 13 kills on 21 attempts for a .571 clip. Makenna Harren had her best showing as a Red Hawk, tallying 10 kills on 21 tries. Karly Riverdahl and Emily Braun each collected double digit assists at 20 and 12, respectively. Defensively, Michaela Riege had 18 of Ripon's 40 digs.
 
As a team, Ripon amassed 43 kills (and hit .402 as a team) while MBU only had 10. The Red Hawks also tallied 16 aces, surrendering just three. Ripon also outpaced Maranatha in blocks (2-0), assists (41-8) and digs (40-33).
 
St. Scholastica (4-6) struck first in the nightcap, taking an early 1-0 lead. The Saints scored the first four points of the match, eventually growing its biggest lead of the set to six at 10-4. However, Ripon battled back and three consecutive points had Ripon trailing just 16-15. Ripon fell behind by seven late in the set, and a CSS kill gave the Saints the opening frame.
 
Ripon hung tough in the second set as the teams went back and forth in the opening moments. Neither team held a lead of more than three points until St. Scholastica scored five straight when the sides were deadlocked at 15 apiece. However, kills by Kast and Riege brought Ripon within one at 22-21 and prompted a Saints timeout. Unfortunately, CSS scored three of the next four points to steal set two.
 
The third set was as tight as the second – Ripon scored the first three points, but things evened out and the biggest lead on either side for quite some time was just two until a 7-0 run gave St. Scholastica an 18-13 edge in the frame. With the Saints leading 24-15 and on the verge of a sweep thanks to four consecutive points, Ripon made a herculean effort to climb back into it – the Red Hawks scored eight consecutive points, forced two CSS timeouts and nearly took it to a fourth set. However, a St. Scholastica kill ended the night and gave the visitors the close sweep.
 
Kast led Ripon with 11 kills, hitting nearly .300. Shaw was close behind with eight, and Braun tallied a game-high 38 assists. Riege led the Red Hawks defensively with 19 digs, while Bella Kasuboski and Differt tallied eight apiece.
 
The match was even and the stats were, too. Ripon had a slight edge in kills (43-40), aces (10-6) and assists (40-39) but St. Scholastica had the advantage in blocks (8-2) and digs (57-55).
 
Ripon finishes its weekend with two more matches on Saturday, facing Saint Mary's (Minn.) at 1 p.m. and Hamline at 3 p.m.
 
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