ST. PAUL – The University of Northwestern held off Martin Luther College with another home court victory for the Eagles winning 3-0 with set scores of 25-22, 25-21, 25-17 on Friday night.
The Eagles pulled ahead quickly in set 1 with a three four-point runs, forcing the Knights to take their two timeouts early on in the set. With four UNW errors in a row, MLC tallied a four-point run of their own while the Eagles remained at 20 points, but it wasn't enough as Northwestern took the set 25-22.
The second set was a game of tug-a-war between the teams with Martin Luther leading by a few points for a majority of the set. Five kills from
Shanay Gonder (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Washington) and four from
Lindsey Peterson (Sheffield, Iowa/West Fork) contributed to the second set victory for the Eagles as they pulled ahead after point 19. Set 3 looked similar to the second with both teams neck-and-neck until the Eagles pulled ahead after 15 points thanks to
Faith Vander Galien (Chanhassen, Minn./Southwest Christian) who racked three straight points with back-to-back kills and a block putting the momentum back in the home team's court leading 20-16.
Lindsey Peterson (Sheffield, Iowa/West Fork) secure the win for the Eagles as they finished 25-17.
UNW finished the match with a .314 hitting percentage. Defensively,
Lizzy Potratz (Oshkosh, Wis./Valley Christian ) led UNW with 14 digs with
Lindsey Peterson (Sheffield, Iowa/West Fork) closely following with 11. The two sisters,
Hallie Mueth (Sheffield, Iowa/West Fork) and
Lindsey Peterson (Sheffield, Iowa/West Fork) tied with 12 kills for the Eagles, followed by
Faith Vander Galien (Chanhassen, Minn./Southwest Christian) with 11 of her own, who also led in blocks with four.
Kira Grev led the Knights leading with 15 kills and also 10 digs. The loss drops Martin Luther to 6-12 on the year.
Northwestern (11-6, 6-0 UMAC) will return to the gym tomorrow to face Bethany Lutheran College and Macalester College. UNW will host Bethany Lutheran at 11 a.m. before finishing the weekend with a 3 p.m. match against Macalester.