ST. PAUL, Minn. – No. 7 University of Northwestern Volleyball continued their dominant start to the season with a pair of sweeps Tuesday night to improve to 8-0. The Eagles took down conference-opponent Crown 3-0 to start the evening. UNW then earned their most impressive win of the season by sweeping No. 8 Gustavus Adolphus in a primetime top-ten showdown. The undefeated Eagles have now won seven of their eight matches by 3-0 sweep.
 
Match One: Crown
 
The Eagles battled the Polars in a conference contest to start out the evening. UNW cruised to a three-set sweep, winning 25-8, 25-12, 25-15.
 
Lucy Pelzel (St. Joseph, Minn./St. Cloud Cathedral) led the Eagles with 11 kills with a .550 hitting percentage. Kate Rogers (Woodbury, Minn./New Life Academy) recorded 12 digs to lead UNW. Gabrielle Straub (Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson) had four of the Eagles' 14 aces in the match.
 
UNW hit .454 as a team while holding Crown to a .182 percentage. Northwestern recorded 52 kills to the Polars' 19.
 
Match Two: No. 8 Gustavus Adolphus
 
After sweeping the Polars, the Eagles prepared for their biggest test of the season; a match that pit the No. 7 DIII team in the nation against the No. 8 ranked team.
 
Northwestern was firing on all cylinders right out of the gate, storming ahead to leads of 5-1, 9-2, and 14-3 in the opening set. The Gusties started to settle in and played even with the Eagles for a few points, but UNW slammed the door by winning seven of the final eight points for a dominant 25-9 opening set win against the No. 8 team in the nation.
 
After that first set, the Gusties found their footing and gave the Eagles their best battle of the season. Gustavus took an early lead in the second set until UNW jumped ahead 10-9. The Gusties evened the score on the next point, and both teams proceeded to battle neck and neck for the rest of the set. With UNW up 22-19, GAC won back-to-back points to get within one at 22-21. Northwestern then won the next three to take set two 25-21.
 
Up 2-0 on the No. 8 team in the country, Northwestern looked to close out what would be their biggest win of the season. The Eagles went up 9-7 in the third set, and then proceeded to win the next six points to take a commanding 15-7 lead. Gustavus rallied and pulled within four points of UNW at 21-17. With the Ericksen Center crowd cheering them on, the Eagles won four of the next five points to close out the third set 25-18 and complete their 3-0 sweep of the No. 8 Gusties.
 
Ari Schmidt (Albany, Minn./Holdingford) led Northwestern's attack with 13 kills on .385 hitting and added three block assists on the defensive front. Marylyn Schroyer (Ft. Collins, Colo./Ft. Collins) was the star of the defensive back line, recording 27 digs. Grace Strickfaden (Norwood-Young America, Minn./NYA) and Hannah Gadient (Goodhue, Minn./Goodhue) combined for 37 assists with 23 and 14 respectively. Kiera Brown's (Columbia Falls, Mont./Columbia Falls) seven total blocks led the team.
 
As a team, the Eagles hit .339 with 48 kills while holding No. 8 Gustavus to a .102 percentage and 29 kills. UNW had 16 block assists and two solo blocks to GAC's four and zero.
 
Up Next

No. 7 Northwestern travels to Holland, Michigan for the Hope College Volleyball Tournament this weekend. The Eagles kick off their tournament schedule against No. 5 Calvin on Friday. UNW then takes on Clarkson on Saturday morning, followed by a match against host No. 9 Hope at noon.