MINNEAPOLIS – The No. 15 nationally ranked University of Northwestern volleyball team opened their 2022 season on Thursday night as the Eagles battled the North Central University Rams in a conference contest on the road. UNW soared to a 3-0 sweep over the Rams to take the season opener.
 
Northwestern started out their season with an incredible 13-0 run in the first set. The Eagles rode the momentum of that opening run to a 25-6 opening-set win.
 
NCU opened the second set with a point, but UNW responded with a nine-point run to take a 9-1 lead. The Rams battled back to within four points of the Eagles at 10-6, but the Eagles kept up the attack and earned a 25-13 win to go up 2-0 in the match.
 
The opening of the third set was closely contested. After a 4-0 UNW run to open the set, NCU responded with four points of their own. The Eagles broke the 4-4 tie with a pair of points, but the Rams kept up their attack. The Rams trailed by just two points at 11-9, but then Northwestern turned a corner; outscoring NCU 14-5 down the stretch to take a definitive 25-14 win in the third to seal a 3-0 sweep in their season and conference opener.
 
Marley Aune (New Brighton, Minn./Avail Academy) led the Eagles' attack with a team-high eight kills on a phenomenal .727 hitting percentage and no errors. The freshman also tied Kiera Brown (Columbia Falls, Mont./Columbia Falls) with a match-high three block assists.
 
The duo of Hannah Gadient (Goodhue, Minn./Goodhue) and Grace Strickfaden (Norwood-Young America, Minn./NYA) led the Eagles with nine assists, playing just a single set each.
 
Marylyn Schroyer (Ft. Collins, Colo./Ft. Collins) led Northwestern with 11 digs in the match.
 
The Eagles recorded nine aces in the match, with Gabrielle Straub (Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson) serving five of them. Those nine aces earned $450 to open this season's Aces for Joy campaign.
 
Up next for the Eagles is the Kathryne Pals Legacy Invitational this weekend. The Eagles host the tournament and open it at 4:30pm on Friday, September 2, against St. Norbert before facing No. 20 Bethel at 7:00pm that night.