The Yellowjackets showed why they’re one of the top teams in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference in the end, holding off any late run the Knights got going on the way to a 25-16, 25-15, 25-14 UMAC volleyball win.

The UW-Superior (17-8, 6-1) attack was led by Makenna Hohbein, who had 15 kills, while Sidney Bader had nine kills. Colleen Claude had 23 set assists, while Gabi Schwirtz added 15 assists and Savanna Hering had 24 digs.

The Knights (3-17, 2-6) allowed just two successful blocks against them on the night while picking up three of their own, but their attack came together a little too late each set. The Knights had just one service error to the Yellowjackets’ eight in the match, but Yellowjackets’ .320 hitting percentage was more than enough to outdo the Knights’ .034 hitting percentage.

MLC’s attack was led by Greta Nolte and Lydia Feidt, who each had six kills. Feidt added 13 digs, while Kourtney Zech had eight set assists, Ella Walz had nine assists and Anna Kieselhorst had 16 digs.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Martin Luther College’s Ella Walz (9) celebrates with Anna Kieselhorst (12) and Hannah Rodmyre (14) following a point against UW-Superior during Friday night’s UMAC volleyball game at MLC.

After falling behind 14-4 in Set 1, the Knights got a little 3-0 run to cut it back to single digits, with kills from Nolte and Hannah Rodmyre ending the run. The Yellowjackets took back control and widened the first-set gap by going up 24-11, but the Knights again rallied with a 5-0 run to stay alive. The run was mainly thanks to four hitting errors by the Yellowjackets, but Nolte did pick up a kill during it.

A kill by Hohbein ended the rally and set, however.

The Knights fell behind 4-0 to start the second set and trailed 24-13 before they again got a late rally to stay alive, this time a 3-0 run that saw a kill by Kiara Humann on an assist from Walz and an ace serve from Kieselhorst. Marena Saeger put a stop to the run with a kill, however, giving the Yellowjackets a 2-0 lead in the match.

UW-Superior jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the third set before a kill from Feidt put the Knights on the board. Trailing 19-9, the Knights got another late run for the third time to cut it to single digits, 19-12. That late 4-0 run by the Knights included a kill from Feidt and a pair of aces from Rodmyre.

UW-Superior again took a double-digit lead after a 3-0 run and kept the Knights from putting together any more runs from there out, ending the match on a kill from Ella Kapus.

MLC will look to snap a three-game losing skid at 1 p.m. Saturday when it hosts Buena Vista in nonconference action.