ST. PAUL – This one is going to sting for a while. Cornell College overcame the University of Northwestern's four- and six-point leads late in the first and second sets en route to a 3-1 final match score that ended the Eagles' season in the NCAA Regional Tournament's semifinal round. UNW wraps up the 2014 campaign with a 24-11 record.



One day after upsetting the regional bracket's top team in Nebraska Wesleyan, Northwestern looked as though it was going to have another first set win in its pocket. After a slow start, the Eagles rallied from 3-1 and 6-3 deficits to tie the score at 7-7 before UNW had its first lead. Cari Miller (West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley), who entered the match with a career 4.75 kills per set average in NCAA Tournament matches, helped the charge as the senior had three kills in four UNW points. Lindsey Peterson (Sheffield, Iowa/West Fork) got a kill of her own before a Miller and Faith Vander Galien (Chanhassen, Minn./Southwest Christian) block forced Cornell to call a timeout with Northwestern leading 12-9. The Rams had to call timeout again with the Eagles' margin now at 16-12. UNW kept the Rams at bay with a four-point buffer at 19-15 before a Peterson kill made it 20-16. Northwestern appeared to be ready to win the round when Vander Galien put two straight kills down at 22-18, but the tides turned quickly. Cornell rattled off four straight points to tie the set at 22 points apiece, and suddenly the Rams had their first lead of the match since 7-6 at 23-22. Northwestern's back row defense was struggling with its serve receive as the Rams went on to take seven of the last eight points, winning 25-23.

While the Eagles were finding success on offense – Peterson had five Set 1 kills, Vander Galien added four more – Northwestern's 12 digs were far less than any of Thursday's four sets. Cornell matched UNW in every offensive category.

Set 2 was a repeat, only the gap was wider. Northwestern had an early 6-3 lead as the Eagles were getting more points thanks to Cornell's hitting errors than their own kills. That soon changed though, as Peterson and Shanay Gonder (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Washington) offered kills to keep the UNW buffer at three, 12-9. Cornell had again exhausted its two timeouts of the set at 14-10 and 16-10 as the Eagles had their largest lead of the day. The margin continued when Miller hit a thundering kill on the right and Vander Galien's block kept Northwestern up 18-12. The Eagles were again the first team to 20, but Cornell clawed back. What was a six-point edge for the Purple was suddenly at two at 18-16. Northwestern led 20-17, but Cornell was keeping the ball in play with key digs that turned into Rams kills down the stretch and suddenly the score was knotted at 21-21. UNW couldn't seem to find an open spot of gym floor on Cornell's side and the Rams block made it even more difficult in what resulted in a 25-22 set victory for the Iowa conference winner. Cornell had five blocks that round and much like Set 1, won 12 of the final 15 points.

Set 3 saw each team take a timeout before the Rams and Eagles had collectively reached 10 points. Cornell broke a 7-7 tie with three straight, then UNW matched the run to tie the Rams at 10-10. Setter Lizzy Jonas (Neenah, Wis./Valley Christian ) and hitter Hallie Mueth (Sheffield, Iowa/West Fork) continued with a pair of flawlessly executed plays at the net that put Northwestern ahead 15-12, then 18-12 on a spree that saw the Eagles win eight of nine points. For the third time of the day, UNW was the first to 20 en route to a 22-15 gap in Northwestern's favor. Cornell snuck in two points, but Peterson kept coming back on the outside, finishing the set with seven kills to help UNW win 25-17. While the Eagles put up 16 kills in that round, Cornell was only able to counter with three.

After a one-point game at 6-5, Set 4 turned ugly in a hurry for Northwestern. In addition to a pair of aces, the Rams continued to pose a threat at the net with 10 blocks in the match, leading 9-6. Those blocks continued, as two more rejections gave Cornell its biggest gap on the scoreboard, 13-8, prompting an Eagles timeout.  The Rams used the break as their own fuel, earning their 14th point on another block before hitting errors on Northwestern's side had Cornell on a 6-0 run, leading 16-8. A Hallie Mueth (Sheffield, Iowa/West Fork) kill put UNW within five at 16-11, but the Rams were now finding attacking room behind the Eagles' defense and within a few minutes, Cornell won the set 25-16 to take the match 3-1.

Northwestern finished the day with more kills than the Rams, who UNW defeated on Cornell's home court on September 13 of this year. Lindsey Peterson (Sheffield, Iowa/West Fork) led all players with 19 kills in 43 attempts (.302) and 19 digs, while her sister, Mueth, finished in double figures at 13 kills and 17 digs in what turned out to be the senior's final match of her career. UNW hit .124 as a team, eight points behind the Rams' .132 clip.

Taylor Dicus and Diamond Boyd each had their hands in six of Cornell's 14 blocks, with Boyd adding 12 kills in the Rams victory.

While the Eagles will have a wealth of young experience returning from this year's run, Northwestern will lose seniors Mueth, Miller, Lizzy Potratz (Oshkosh, Wis./Valley Christian ) and Jacki Smith (Roseville, Minn./Concordia Academy) to graduation. UNW has plenty of positive things to dwell on from 2014 including the program's 17th Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) regular season championship, sweeping the league's double round-robin slate, and the Eagles' second NCAA Tournament victory.

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