SAN ANTONIO, Texas. – The University of Northwestern volleyball team opened their Trinity Tournament competition on Friday, extending their winning streak to eight games with a victory over the Chapman Panthers before falling to the tournament hosts and the No. 3 nationally ranked Trinity Tigers.
The Eagles' win over the Panthers in a gutsy five-set match opened day on a strong note. UNW trailed 22-18 late in the first set before rattling off four consecutive points to even it up. A service error gave Chapman the ball, but the Eagles maintained control and won the next three points for a narrow 25-23 first-set win.
The Panthers responded with a 25-18 win in set two to tie the match. Chapman continued their efforts with a 26-24 win in the third set after trailing 23-22 late.
In the fourth, the Eagles' rally started with a 12-4 run to open the set. The Panthers, however, battled back and tested UNW down the stretch, scoring thrice in a row down 19-24, but Northwestern closed out the set 25-22 to send the match to a fifth set.
The deciding fifth set once again saw UNW open strong, going up 11-4 on the Panthers. Northwestern held off another Chapman rally to earn a 15-11 set victory and finish the match 3-2 in favor of UNW.
Northwestern played without their go-to senior setter
Sydney Schwitters (Clara City, Minn./MACCRAY) against Chapman, and the trio of
Hannah Gadient (Goodhue, Minn./Goodhue),
Hope Kapelke (Ft. Atkinson, Wis./Ft. Atkinson), and
Grace Strickfaden (Norwood-Young America, Minn./NYA) stepped up, combining to earn 58 assists for an average of 11.6 per set.
Abby Glanzer (Brandon, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian) led the way offensively by tying her season-high with 27 kills on .306 hitting. The freshman also finished second on the team with 20 digs to earn a double-double. Defensively,
Marylyn Schroyer (Ft. Collins, Colo./Ft. Collins) led UNW with 27 digs and
Kiera Brown (Columbia Falls, Mont./Columbia Falls) with four block assists.
Match two saw the No. 18 nationally ranked Eagles take on their tournament hosts; the No. 3 nationally ranked Tigers. The story of the match was Schwitters arriving just as the match was about to start due to her flights having been delayed. Nonetheless, the senior took the court, played one of the top teams in the nation without a single moment of warm up, and led both teams with 30 assists for an average of 10 per set.
The turnaround from their five-set marathon earlier in the day to then facing the team that was ranked No. 1 in the nation at the onset of the season proved too much, as the Eagles struggled to get their offense going against the Tiger front. Northwestern fought hard, playing the Tigers nearly point-for-point through the first half of both the second and third sets. However, Trinity managed to pull ahead late in both sets to earn the 3-0 win.
Glanzer led UNW with 14 kills, recording seven digs along the way. Schroyer's 12 digs paced Northwestern defensively.
Northwestern now looks ahead to day two of the tournament on Saturday, when they will take on California Lutheran at 3:00 p.m.
