EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – No. 3 University of Northwestern Volleyball took on No. 11 University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, the defending DIII national champions, on the road Wednesday night. The Eagles and Blugolds battled through five sets with Eau Claire earning a 3-2 (21-25, 25-23, 22-25, 25-20, 15-12) marathon win over UNW, ending Northwestern's undefeated start to the 2022 season after 13 matches.
 
The Eagles won the opening set to jump ahead 1-0. Northwestern led by as many as six points up 21-15 in the opener, but the Blugolds closed the gap with a 5-1 run to make it 22-20. UNW closed out the set with a 3-1 run to take it 25-21.
 
Eau Claire rallied in the second set to even the match score 1-1. After the Eagles took a 6-4 lead, both teams went on to exchange runs of two to four points until the Blugolds evened the score at 16-16. From then on, UNW would be prevented by the Eau Claire defense from stringing together any consecutive points. The Blugolds, however, managed to win back-to-back points twice late in the set to lead them to a narrow 25-23 second-set win.
 
In the third, UWEC jumped ahead 4-0 early. The Blugolds held a lead through the first half of the set and used another four-point run to go up by six at 15-9. Northwestern cut their deficit to four down 18-14. From there, the Eagles fired off a six-point run to take a 20-18 lead in the set. UNW and Eau Claire traded points for the remainder of the set until the Eagles took back-to-back points at the very end to win it 25-22.
 
Down 2-1 in the match, the defending national champions showed their experience as the Blugolds kept their focus and kept on swinging. Eau Claire took a 13-9 lead in the fourth set until the Eagles wiped it away with a four-point run, tying the match up at 13 all. UWEC responded by winning six of the next eight points to go up 19-15. Northwestern fired back with a three-point run to get back within a point down 19-18, but the Blugolds responded with another 6-2 run to take the fourth set 25-20, tying the match up at 2-2.
 
In a fifth set race to 15 points, Eau Claire went up 3-2 early. The Eagles answered by winning five of the next six to take a three-point lead up 7-5. UWEC cut the lead down to two at 9-7, and then fired off a five-point run to take a 12-9 lead. UNW won the next two points to get within one down 12-11, but the Blugolds responded with two of their own to reach match point at 14-11. Northwestern got one more kill to get within two points, but the Blugolds hammered one final kill of their own to take the set 15-12 and the match 3-2.
 
Abby Glanzer (Brandon, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian) led the Eagles' barrage with 23 kills in the match. Marylyn Schroyer (Ft. Collins, Colo./Ft. Collins) recorded 25 digs to lead the defensive effort in the backcourt. Grace Strickfaden (Norwood-Young America, Minn./NYA) and Hannah Gadient (Goodhue, Minn./Goodhue) combined for 52 assists (10.4 per set) in the match, recording 27 and 25 respectively.
 
The defense was the main feature of the match as both teams held each other to sub .200 hitting in the match. Northwestern, who entered the match ranked second in the nation in hitting percentage at .306, was held to .196 hitting in the match. On the other side, the Blugolds were held to .157 hitting by the Eagles. Kiera Brown (Columbia Falls, Mont./Columbia Falls), ranked second in the nation in blocks per set at 1.46, led the defensive front for Northwestern with six block assists and a solo block.
 
Up next for No. 3 Northwestern is their seventh-consecutive road match in a string of nine scheduled before they return home. The Eagles will travel to take on Martin Luther College in New Ulm this Saturday, October 1, starting at 1:00 P.M. for their fourth conference match of the season.