ST. PAUL, Minn. – The No. 15 nationally ranked University of Northwestern volleyball team is headed to the UMAC Tournament Championship game after sweeping Martin Luther College in the semifinals on Saturday night. In addition to the win,
Sydney Schwitters (Clara City, Minn./MACCRAY) broke the all-time UNW program assists record in the match. The senior setter recorded her 4,470
th career assist in the match, surpassing the record set by Christine Engel in 2002.
UNW got off to a quick start in the opening set, going up 4-0. Later in the set, with the Eagles up 13-9, Northwestern rattled off five in a row to take an impressive 18-9 lead. Though the Knights proceeded to outscore the Eagles 9-7, the lead UNW built was too much to overcome as Northwestern took the set 25-18.
In the second set, MLC tied it up early at 4-4. The Eagles emphatically broke the tie by winning seven consecutive points to go up 12-4. A four point run at 15-6 gave Northwestern a 19-6 lead, and another run of four closed out the set for UNW in a 25-9 victory.
The Eagles got off to another fast start in the final set, winning the opening five points. Up 8-3 later in the set, Northwestern rattled off another seven point run to go up 15-3. A four point run later gave UNW a 23-6 lead, and the team closed out the set not long after at 25-9 to win the UMAC Tournament Semifinal game and advance the championship.
Schwitters had 29 assists in the match for UNW and added three service aces, three kills, and six digs.
Marylyn Schroyer (Ft. Collins, Colo./Ft. Collins) led the Eagles with 29 digs for a remarkable 9.67 per set average.
Offensively,
Gabrielle Straub (Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson) led Northwestern with 14 kills on .444 hitting, just barely missing a double-double with nine digs.
Ari Schmidt (Albany, Minn./Holdingford) followed with 10 kills on an incredible .645 hitting percentage.
Kiera Brown (Columbia Falls, Mont./Columbia Falls) had a team-high five blocks and hit .364 in the match.
Up next for the Eagles is the UMAC Tournament Championship game on Saturday, November 6. The match will be a rematch from last year as UNW will once again battle Minnesota Morris for the title. Northwestern will host that tournament championship match this Saturday starting at 3:00 p.m.
