ST. PAUL – Top-seeded University of Northwestern fended off a pesky Martin Luther College squad on Wednesday night, winning 3-1 (25-18, 20-25, 25-14, 25-12) to advance to the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament Championship. The Eagles, who swept their league regular season slate, will host the University of Minnesota Morris in a 7 p.m. match in the Ericksen Center on Saturday to determine who will represent the conference in the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Northwestern won the first set 25-18, but it wasn't done in the way fans would expect after watching the Eagles all season. UNW received at least three kills from four different players in that round, with none of them named Lindsey Peterson (Sheffield, Iowa/West Fork), the Purple and Gold's top hitter. Faith Vander Galien (Chanhassen, Minn./Southwest Christian) and Cari Miller (West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley) were finding room in the middle as Northwestern hit .233 as a team in the set.

As well as the Eagles played in the first set, Martin Luther reversed the score in Round 2, making UNW ineffective on offense as Kira Grev and Rylee Weisensel started to come on strong at the net for the Knights. Northwestern, who put down 17 kills in the first set, were only able to post 11 in the second, hitting .065 as a team as the Knights kept several balls in play on defense.

UNW took the loss in stride and turned it into momentum for Sets 3 and 4, which were drastic improvements for the Eagles in 11- and 13-point victories that put Northwestern in Saturday's final. Peterson's offensive prowess improved as the night went on while Miller continued to add to her already strong attacking numbers. With Hallie Mueth (Sheffield, Iowa/West Fork) playing strictly in the back row due to an injury that the senior suffered last Friday, Lydia Palkert (Excelsior, Minn./Southwest Christian) filled in nicely on the outside, finishing with 10 kills on 22 attempts for a .409 attacking rate.

Miller, who, along with Mueth, was celebrated for eclipsing 1,000 kills for her career before the match, led all players with 14 kills, with Peterson joining Palkert at 10 as UNW had 52-34 advantage over Martin Luther in team kills. The Eagles finished with a .212 hitting percentage as well, thanks much in part to the setting of Leesa Hulstrand (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie) and Lizzy Jonas (Neenah, Wis./Valley Christian ), who each tallied 23 assists.

Defensively, Northwestern had one of its better matches at the net as of late with 11 blocks, seven of which were off the hands of Shanay Gonder (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Washington). Faith Vander Galien (Chanhassen, Minn./Southwest Christian), the middle hitter who put up nine kills at the net, rejected four Martin Luther attacks while playing in the back row for a few serves as well.

Grev and Weisensel each had eight kills to pace Martin Luther, the UMAC Tournament's fourth seed, whose season ends with a 13-17 overall record.

For Northwestern, now 22-10 overall, a win over No. 2 Minnesota Morris on Saturday won't come easy. The Cougars, who beat St. Scholastica in a come-from-behind five-set thriller in their semifinal match, pushed the Eagles to five sets in their September 19 match in the Ericksen Center before UNW won 3-0 in Morris, Minn. on October 24. Abby Tietz had 24 kills for UMM against the Saints, and senior Emily Auch will be a threat for head coach Chad Braegelmann's crew as well.