ST. PAUL, Minn. – No. 7 University of Northwestern Volleyball hosted the University of Minnesota Morris on Friday for a conference contest in the Ericksen Center. The Eagles swept the Cougars 3-0 to remain undefeated against UMAC opponents through nine matches and 19-2 overall. In all nine of their conference matches this season, UNW has won by 3-0 sweep. 15 of the Eagles' 19 overall wins have been earned with a 3-0 sweep.
 
In the opening set, the Eagles went on a 12-1 run to go up 15-4 in the set. The Cougars battled back, but that incredible stretch from the first half of the set powered UNW to a 25-15 set win.
 
Northwestern kept up the momentum in set two as the Eagles' lead reached as large as 11-points up 16-5. Once again the Cougars kept up the fight, but once again the early-set success proved critical as UNW took the set 25-16 to go up 2-0.
 
The third set saw the script flip from the first two. This time, the Eagles and Cougars battled in a close contest at the start of the set. The two teams tied at 6-6, and Morris kept it close through an 11-8 UNW lead. At that point, though, the Eagles fired off five points in a row to go up 16-8. The Eagles and Cougars then traded points until Northwestern won three in a row to go up 20-10. Morris would get one final fill, but then UNW took five in a row to win the set 25-11 and the match 3-0.
 
Ari Schmidt (Albany, Minn./Holdingford) led the Eagles offense with 11 kills on an unreal .688 hitting percentage. Abby Glanzer (Brandon, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian) added another 11 kills while hitting a fantastic .407 on the night. Aune Marley added another nine kills with an incredible .667 hitting percentage.
 
Grace Strickfaden (Norwood-Young America, Minn./NYA) led the Eagles with 18 assists. Felicia Luther (Victoria, Minn./Southwest Christian) followed with 12 in the match.
 
Marylyn Schroyer (Ft. Collins, Colo./Ft. Collins) led UNW with 14 digs. Kiera Brown's (Columbia Falls, Mont./Columbia Falls) four total blocks were a team-high.
 
As a team, the Eagles hit .341 while holding UMM to .051 in the match. UNW out-aced the Cougars 7-0.
 
Up next, No. 7 Northwestern travels to Menomonie, Wisconsin on Saturday for the UW-Stout Triangular. The Eagles will take on No. 9 UW-Whitewater at 3:00 P.M. before a match with UW-Stout right afterwards at 5:00 P.M.