NEW YORK CITY, N.Y.- #4 University of Northwestern Volleyball finished out their trip to New York City in style on Saturday. The Eagles won both matches they played and have now won 15 consecutive contests. #4 UNW defeated #18 North Park 3-1 in their first game on Saturday and followed that up with a 3-0 defeat of Rowan.
Game One: #18 North Park
North Park is a familiar opponent for the Northwestern Volleyball squad. The two teams met less than a year ago, November 10
th 2022, inside the Ericksen Center in the first round of the NCAA Division III National Tournament. The Eagles won that matchup by a score of 3-1 and that was the result once again this afternoon on the East Coast.
The Vikings topped the Eagles in an extremely tight first set. After going back and forth the entire set, the Eagles led 24-22. North Park would then rattle off four consecutive points to steal the set from UNW, 26-24.
If UNW was shell-shocked from dropping that first set in the late stages, they did not show it as they would bounce back to win the next three sets and secure their 14
th win in a row. In the second set, the Eagles would begin by trailing 1-0, but would not trail again after that. The set would end in a 25-20 score that favored the team from Minnesota as
Abby Glanzer (Brandon, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian) secured the final point with a kill off of a
Hannah Gadient (Goodhue, Minn./Goodhue) assist.
The third set was the most lopsided of them all. A string of eight consecutive points in the middle stages of the set would power the Eagles to a dominant 25-12 third set victory. Winning the third set put the Eagles up 2-1 in the match.
In the fourth and final set, the Eagles held a slim 5-4 lead. Three straight kills from
Ari Schmidt (Albany, Minn./Holdingford) paired with a Viking error gave the Eagles four consecutive points as they stretched out their lead. That lead would not be in jeopardy again with the Eagles cruising to a 25-17 fourth set win. #4 UNW's 14
th consecutive win came via a 3-1 win over nationally ranked North Park. This was the Eagles' fifth win over a ranked opponent this season (they've added three more wins over teams that were receiving votes in the AVCA's Top 25).
Abby Glanzer (Brandon, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian) and
Ari Schmidt (Albany, Minn./Holdingford) were unstoppable forces offensively for the Eagles. Glanzer finished with 20 kills while Schmidt had 15. Glanzer finished with a hitting percentage of .378 and added 11 digs. Schmidt's hitting percentage was .419 and the junior added four total blocks.
Grace Strickfaden (Norwood-Young America, Minn./NYA) had a double-double with 22 assists and 10 digs.
Hannah Gadient (Goodhue, Minn./Goodhue) had 20 assists.
Marylyn Schroyer (Ft. Collins, Colo./Ft. Collins) had 22 digs and 4 assists.
Game Two: Rowan
The Eagles closed out their three game slate in New York City with a 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-7) victory over Rowan University.
Remarkably, the Eagles only trailed for one point in the contest and that was when Rowan went up 1-0 in the second set. The Eagles played high quality volleyball and played from in front for the majority of the contest.
UNW's team hitting percentage in the game was .350 and their defense combined to hold Rowan to a .042 percentage. The Eagles had eight players combine for their 38 team kills.
Marley Aune (New Brighton, Minn./Avail Academy) had 16 total attacks and ended with 11 kills on an incredible percentage of .688.
Abby Glanzer (Brandon, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian) had 9 kills and 11 digs.
Ari Schmidt (Albany, Minn./Holdingford) had 8 kills and 3 digs.
Kiera Brown (Columbia Falls, Mont./Columbia Falls) and
Grace Moravchik (Mason, Wis./Ashland) had three kills each.
Caitlyn Pruis (Sioux Falls, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian) had a kill as well, and
Cassie Flynn (New Franken, Wis./Luxemburg-Casco) ended with a kill and five total blocks.
Grace Strickfaden (Norwood-Young America, Minn./NYA) led the Eagles in assists once again with 16 while also adding a kill and 7 digs.
Hannah Gadient (Goodhue, Minn./Goodhue) had 11 assists.
Marylyn Schroyer (Ft. Collins, Colo./Ft. Collins) had 15 digs and 2 assists.
The Eagles finished with 8 serving aces as a team.
Up Next
The Eagles will be back in the Midwest this upcoming week when they host St. Olaf inside the Ericksen Center. The game is scheduled for Wednesday, October 18
th at 7:00pm and has been labeled "UNW Nation Night" by the UNW Volleyball team.
