Box Score

ST. PAUL – The University of Northwestern is headed to its fourth consecutive NCAA Division III Tournament following a 3-1 (25-22, 25-21, 23-25, 25-18) victory over the University of Minnesota Morris in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament championship match. The Eagles had to earn every point against a team that they shared the league's regular season title with, but it was a strong first and fourth sets that put UNW over the top on their home court.

Match Reactions: Head Coach Beth Wilmeth | Krista Stoltz | Lexi Bertsch

Much like the entire match, Set 1 was a back and forth battle that didn't see one team establish a strong lead over the other. Hallie Mueth (Sheffield, Iowa/West Fork)'s kill put the Eagles up 10-7, but not long later, the Cougars scored three straight points to tie the score at 12-12. Northwestern found itself down 19-17 late in the set, but kills from Lizzy Potratz (Oshkosh, Wis./Valley Christian ) allowed the Purple and Gold to knot the score at 20-20. With another tie at 22-22, Kendra Korporal (Sumner, Iowa /Sumner-Fredericksburg) and Faith Vander Galien (Chanhassen, Minn./Southwest Christian) teamed up to finish the round with three straight kills to give the Eagles a 25-22 set victory. Morris' Abby Tietz fired seven kills at the Eagles throughout the first 20 minutes, but both teams struggled at the service line, combining for eight errors.



Set 2 looked very similar early on, but the Eagles turned a 3-3 early tie into a 10-4 advantage after more kills from Korporal and Vander Galien. The lead stuck and even improved to 18-10 when Cari Miller (West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley) and Korporal rejected Morris' Allysa Haugen's attack, but the Cougars weren't finished. UMM started a comeback, cutting Northwestern's lead to three on Emily Auch's kill at 20-17 before the Eagles picked up the pace, using kills from Miller and Korporal to get to 25 first.

Morris picked up a win in Set 3 after hitting .224 in the round. Auch started to pick up her team's offensive weight with seven kills, five of which came in a span of ten points. Meanwhile Mueth was turning up the heat on defense for Northwestern as her nine digs that set kept things close. The Eagles were facing a 23-20 deficit, but pulled within a point at 24-23 on a rare kill from setter Krista Stoltz (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial). Fittingly, Auch ended the set with a kill to keep her team in the match.

Northwestern truly pulled away in the fourth set, specifically after the score was tied at 14-14. Korporal and Vander Galien put down kills with the latter earning two blocks down the stretch. Morris scored just four points the rest of the way as UNW used energy from the home crowd to go on a spree as the Cougars hit into three straight errors before Potratz put away the match with a kill. Neither team's libero and last year's UMAC Co-Defensive Player of the Year award winners, the Cougars' Kaylie Clark and Northwestern's Lexi Bertsch (Andover, Minn./Meadow Creek Christian), wanted the match to end as both put up impressive numbers in both the set and the entire match. Clark finished with 29 digs, a 7.25 per set average, while Bertsch ended the night with 25.

Stoltz referenced in her post-game interview that the Eagles had hoped to spread its offensive attack around and UNW did just that. Korporal finished with 14 kills to lead the Eagles, but was followed by double digit numbers from Miller, Vander Galien and Potratz as Stoltz wrapped up the night with 49 assists to earn tournament MVP honors. For Morris, Tietz had 17 kills, with Auch adding 14 as the Cougars (23-12) finished with a .126 attacking rate. Northwestern was nearly 70 points better at .195.

Much like their offensive output, the Eagles had four players record 16 or more digs with Bertsch, Potratz and Mueth all landing in the 20s. Vander Galien's five blocks tied that of Hannah Knott on the other side of the court.

Northwestern, now 23-12 and UMAC Tournament champions for the seventh time in school history, will await the announcement of their first round opponent which comes via the NCAA selection show at 10 a.m. on ncaa.com.