ST. PAUL, Minn. – The No. 17 nationally ranked University of Northwestern volleyball team swept both of their conference matches on Saturday to secure the 2021 UMAC Regular Season Championship. The title is their 11
th in a row, winning every championship dating back to 2011, and is their 24
th in program history.
The Eagles opened the day with a home match against Northland. The opening set stayed close early on, as the Lumberjills trailed by only two at 9-7. However, as this Eagle team has proven it can do, UNW found their rhythm and rattled off five consecutive points to go up 15-7. From that 9-7 score onward, the Eagles outscored the Lumberjills 16 to 4 and took the first set 25-11.
UNW controlled the second set throughout, going up 2-0 in the match with a dominant 25-6 victory. The Eagles had a run of seven points and two separate runs of five in the set.
The final set saw Northwestern change up their starting lineup to rest a couple starters. The Lumberjills had their best performance in the third, though Northwestern still won by 10 points. Northland jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, but the new third-set starting group worked through the rust early and rallied to take an 8-4 lead. The Lumberjills countered with three of their own to make it 9-8, but then Northwestern won nine of the next ten points to go up 18-9. UNW and NC played even through the rest of the match, but the nine-point lead propelled the Eagles to a 25-15 set win to complete the 3-0 sweep and take the match.
Ari Schmidt (Albany, Minn./Holdingford) led Northwestern with a career-high 13 kills on .435 hitting in the win.
Sydney Schwitters (Clara City, Minn./MACCRAY) had 27 assists in her two sets played to lead the Eagles.
Abby Glanzer (Brandon, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian) had a team-high 16 digs along with 11 kills on .500 hitting for a double-double.
Following their home victory, the Eagles made the trip over to North Central for a road match, with UNW looking to secure the UMAC Championship. The first set saw four lead changes by the time the Rams held a 16-13 lead. The Eagles then did what they do best and strung together a big run, winning the next six points to take a 19-16 lead. A service error ended the streak, but UNW kept up the momentum and won six of the final seven to take the opening set 25-18.
In the second, Northwestern rebounded from a shaky first set. The Eagles fought their way to an 11-5 lead before bombarding the Rams with an eight-point run, going up 19-5. UNW closed out the set at 25-10 to go up 2-0 entering the third.
Needing just one more set to secure their 11
th consecutive UMAC Championship, the Eagles went to work. A four-point run helped UNW to an early 8-3 lead, and a couple points later Northwestern added a second four-point run to go up 12-5. The Eagles clawed their way to a commanding 21-12 lead before North Central pulled off a run of their own, winning four in a row to get back into it at 21-16. As they have all season, however, the Eagles responded in force and won the final four points to secure the third set at 25-16, the match at 3-0, and the conference championship at a 12-0 record.
Glanzer led Northwestern with 11 kills on .391 hitting, Schmidt had 10 on .500 hitting, and
Gabrielle Straub (Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson) had nine on .400 hitting. Schwitters had 30 assists in the match, and
Kendra Hardy's (Alexandria, Minn./Alexandria) nine digs led the team.
Up next for the 2021 UMAC Champions are four road matches to close out the regular season. The first of those matches is October 27 at Augsburg University. The next home match for the Eagles will be when they host a UMAC Tournament Semifinal match on Wednesday, November 3.
