Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Northwestern won at least a share of its third straight Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) regular season championship on Saturday as the Eagles defeated the University of Minnesota Morris 3-1. UNW then wrapped up its successful afternoon with a 3-0 sweep against Concordia College-Moorhead.

In the 25-19, 25-20, 24-26, 25-15 victory over the Cougars, Northwestern hit .228 as Hallie Mueth (Sheffield, Iowa/West Fork) led UNW with 14 kills and six blocks on the day. Cari Miller (West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley) and Lizzy Potratz (Oshkosh, Wis./Valley Christian ) both added 11 kills to help the Eagles earn the No. 1 seed in next week's conference tournament to ensure home court advantage throughout.

The Eagles, looking to avenge a 3-2 loss to Minnesota Morris on October 5 in Northwestern's Ericksen Center, knew what they had to do in their first match on Saturday. That mission was clear early on in Set 1 as UNW used several multi-point runs to lead 10-5 and 16-11. Morris staged a near comeback with several consecutive points of their own, coming within a point at 18-17 thanks to a Northwestern service error and two aces from the Cougars' Kaylie Clark. The Eagles responded with four straight points on kills by Kendra Korporal (Sumner, Iowa /Sumner-Fredericksburg) and Faith Vander Galien (Chanhassen, Minn./Southwest Christian) to lead 22-18, shortly before UNW closed out the set at 25-19.

Morris put up more of a fight in the early goings of Set 2 as neither team was able to establish much of a buffer. As soon as Miller put down a kill at 17-15, the Cougars came right back with two points to tie the score at 17, 18, 19 and 20. Northwestern took it from there though as consecutive Mueth kills and two Morris attacking errors put the Eagles up 2-0 in the match score.

The first contest of the day was hardly over as the Cougars overcame the same deficit in early October to take the first UMAC set off of Northwestern in a year. The Purple used two kills from Korporal to swing a 6-4 margin in their favor to 10-6, but Morris went on a run of its own to overtake the lead 13-10. The home team on the scoreboard then broke a 20-20 tie, using three straight points to get close to the needed 25 points to win the set. 25 turned out to not be enough for the Cougars, as Northwestern rallied to tie the score at 24-24 before a Miller attack was blocked and Addie Ventura recorded the final kill of the set to keep Morris hanging around.

More ties ensued in Set 4 as the score was knotted five times before either team got to 10 points. Northwestern took off from there as kills by Vander Galien and Mueth propelled the Eagles to a 15r-10 advantage. The same two players extended the UNW buffer to 19-11 as 25 points came closer within sight. That benchmark became a reality in not too long of time, as the Cougars only got as close as six before back-to-back Morris attacking errors ended the match with UNW on top 3-1.

Northwestern was very consistent on offense throughout the four sets, hitting between .194 and .275 throughout the match. The Eagles' defense limited the Cougars to under .030 twice, including the fourth set when UNW forced nine errors and allowed just eight kills in 37 attempts by their opponent.

The UMAC title is Northwestern's 16th overall in the program's history. 2013 represents the sixth time that Northwestern has shared the conference trophy with the other 10 championships being outright.

UNW's attacking rate only went up in the Eagles' second match of the day against Concordia en route to a 25-22, 25-18, 25-16 win. Northwestern posted 17 kills in both the second and third sets over a team that has received votes in the last couple AVCA Top 25 coaches polls and was voted sixth in the latest NCAA regional rankings.

Miller led all players with 12 kills as Northwestern continued to pour on the offense. Krista Stoltz (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial), who had 39 assists against Morris, was good for 38 against the Cobbers.

Northwestern and Concordia shared multiple ties throughout the first set, including a knot at 20-20. Stoltz earned a kill to help the Eagles get closer to 25 but UNW also had help on the other side of the court, where the Cobbers had back-to-back attacking errors and a serving mistake before a kill by Miller put UNW up 1-0 in the match count.

The Eagles had to come back early in the second set before riding the coattails of Vander Galien and Potratz to an eventual 25-18 win. After a 5-5 tie, Northwestern's points came in bunches as just four scores didn't come as part of a run. The same was true in Set 3, when UNW took an early 3-0 lead and turned it into a 14-7 margin. Northwestern's lead was up to 10 points at 23-13 before the Cobbers snuck in three points prior to the Eagles winning the set 25-16.

Vander Galien finished with 10 kills on 17 attempts for a .500 attacking rate, while Northwestern went for a .317 hitting percentage as a team. Three different UNW players had double-digit digs as both Mueth and Lexi Bertsch (Andover, Minn./Meadow Creek Christian) posted 14 in the match.

Northwestern finished the day with a 21-14 overall record, wrapping up the regular season with a 13-1 slate in UMAC play. The Eagles' 20-plus wins in 2013 marks the seventh year in a row of UNW hitting that mark. Head coach Beth Wilmeth has guided teams to 20 or more wins in eight of her 10 years at the team's helm.

UNW's attention now shifts to next Wednesday's UMAC Tournament semifinal when the Eagles will host fourth-seeded College of St. Scholastica at 7 p.m. If Northwestern were to win that match, the Purple and Gold would host the winner of Minnesota Morris and Martin Luther College on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m.