Box Score ST. PAUL – If that's the way the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) schedule is going to play out this season, everyone is in for a great 2014. The University of Northwestern needed five sets to fend off the University of Minnesota Morris, its fellow Co-UMAC Champion from 2013, in both teams' league opener on Friday night. The Eagles won the UMAC Game of the Week in 25-17, 24-26, 25-27, 25-23, 15-6 fashion.
Set 1 was a great pace setter for Northwestern, who posted 16 kills compared to Morris' six. With the score tied at 14-14, the Eagles went on a tear with
Hallie Mueth (Sheffield, Iowa/West Fork) at the service line and quickly created some space, making a 21-14 margin before finishing out the round with an eight-point victory.
Lindsey Peterson (Sheffield, Iowa/West Fork) had six kills with
Faith Vander Galien (Chanhassen, Minn./Southwest Christian) adding five, helping UNW hit .250 for the set. Northwestern's defense was solid – especially in the back row – limiting the Cougars' kills leader in Emily Auch to zero kills on 13 attempts.
The second set was a much closer finish, with ties at every point from 19 to 24. Northwestern led 24-23, but Morris fired off three straight points, thanks in part to a pair of Abby Tietz kills, to win by two. The Cougars used four blocks and five overall kills in the set from Tietz, while UNW countered with a six-kill performance from Mueth in the set. Set 3 was another one that got away from Northwestern, who forced two rather early timeouts by Morris after leading 14-10 and 17-12. The second break must have worked for the visitors on the scoreboard, as the Cougars charged back to knot the score at 18 points apiece. 25 points wasn't enough to win the round, so Morris used the final two points in a back-and-forth finish to win 27-25.
Round 4 went down to the wire again, but Northwestern got points when it needed it most. Fans in attendance once again witnessed another late-set tie at 23-23. Morris handed the Eagles a point thanks to a service error, and
Cari Miller (West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley) came up big with a solo block to win the 25th point. Peterson, who was nearing 20 kills for the match, was no longer a secret to the Cougars, who started to block the left side more as a result. But UNW's four blocks in the set helped push the Eagles into Set 5, which would decide the outcome.
Northwestern and Morris started the final round with a 4-4 tie, but things went south for the Cougars in a hurry. Seven of the next 13 points resulted in attacking errors for UMM and the Eagles added kills in where they needed to – including back-to-back points – at 14 and 15 to win the match.
UNW finished the match with a .228 hitting rate thanks in part to eight kills on 18 attempts with no errors in the fifth set. Peterson finished with 22 kills, but it was the freshman's 20th kill of the night in the fifth that had everyone in the building off their feet in awe of its velocity. Mueth, Peterson's sister, contributed 15 kills on the night, while Miller and Vander Galien added 14 and 10.
Lizzy Jonas (Neenah, Wis./Valley Christian ) recorded a career-high 57 assists.
Defensively,
Lizzy Potratz (Oshkosh, Wis./Valley Christian ) led UNW with 26 digs – one of three players to tally 20 or more digs on the night;
Jackie Foster (Charles City, Iowa/Charles City) added 25 in her Ericksen Center debut.
Shanay Gonder (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Washington) and Miller each had their hands on four of the team's nine blocks.
Auch paced the Cougars, who received 28 digs from Hannah Terhaar. The loss drops Morris to 8-5 on the year.
For Northwestern (6-6, 1-0 UMAC), the Eagles will return to the gym in just over 12 hours for a doubleheader on Saturday against Crown College and North Central University. UNW will host Crown at home at 11 a.m. before finishing the weekend with a short trip to Minneapolis to face the Rams from North Central at 6 p.m.
