ST. PAUL, Minn. – The No. 15 nationally ranked University of Northwestern volleyball team opened day one of the Kathryne Pals Legacy Invitational on Friday evening. The Eagles battled the St. Norbert College Green Knights in their home opener, and then closed out the night with a rivalry match against the No. 20 nationally ranked Bethel University Royals. UNW continued their perfect start to the season with a pair of 3-0 sweeps, staying undefeated on the year.
Match One: St. Norbert
In the contest against St. Norbert, the Eagles used a pair of six-point runs to help take the opening set 25-14. The second set was a back-and-forth battle, but a five-point Eagle run helped UNW take a lead and glide to a 25-17 win. The third set saw SNC take a 6-5 lead early on, but Northwestern responded with their biggest run of the day; rattling off seven consecutive points to take a 12-6 lead en route to a 25-18 set win to clinch the match.
Abby Glanzer (Brandon, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian) and
Ari Schmidt (Albany, Minn./Holdingford) each led the Eagles with 10 kills, hitting .320 and .389 respectively.
Kiera Brown (Columbia Falls, Mont./Columbia Falls) led UNW with five block assists to go with five kills. Schmidt added four block assists in the win.
Marylyn Schroyer's (Ft. Collins, Colo./Ft. Collins) 16 digs led the Eagles. Glanzer followed with 11.
Hannah Gadient (Goodhue, Minn./Goodhue) led UNW with 17 assists while
Grace Strickfaden (Norwood-Young America, Minn./NYA) followed right behind with 16 of her own.
Match Two: Bethel
After a strong win against the Green Knights, the Eagles turned their attention to the main event of not just the evening but the entire Invitational: No. 15 Northwestern against No. 20 Bethel, their nationally ranked rival from right down the road.
In the opening set, the Eagles established control right out the gate. After an opening point win by the Royals, UNW rattled off five in a row to take a quick 5-1 lead. While the Eagles prevented Bethel from stringing together more than two points in a row, the Eagles added a run of four and three runs of three to propel themselves to a 25-16 first set win.
The second set was a different story from the first as Bethel found their footing and began to match the Eagles output. Neither team led by more than three points throughout the entire set. After Bethel tied the set 21-21, the Eagles earned four of the next six points to take the set in a narrow 25-23 victory.
Up 2-0 after earning set wins in two very different ways, UNW looked to close out the match in the third. The first half of the set was back and forth as the second set had been. That flow changed after Bethel tied up the match at 12-12 as Northwestern proceeded to go on a seven point run to take a commanding 19-12 lead. The Royals would fight back and win three of the next four, but the Eagles closed out the match with a five-point run to complete the three-set sweep and improve to 3-0 on the season.
The Eagles defense was stifling against the Royals. UNW hit .241 while holding the No. 20 ranked team in the nation to a .020 hitting percentage. Northwestern had 20 block assists to Bethel's four in the match. Brown lead UNW's the defensive front with eight block assists and a solo block, adding in two kills along the way.
Schmidt led UNW with nine kills in the match on .500 hitting and added three block assists on the defensive front.
Schroyer added to the defensive effort with 21 digs.
Gadient had a team-high 17 assists with Strickfaden adding another 15.
Up Next
Up next for the Eagles is the second and final day of the Kathryne Pals Legacy Invitational this weekend. The Eagles take on the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Pointers at 1:30pm on Saturday, September 3, in the Ericksen Center.
