MANKATO, Minn.- #5 University of Northwestern Volleyball was on the road on Friday night. The Eagles took on the Vikings from Bethany Lutheran in a UMAC contest. UNW defeated BLC 3-0 to move to 23-3 on the season. The Eagles are atop the UMAC regular season standings with an undefeated record of 11-0. Additionally, Northwestern has not lost a set in conference play currently sitting at 33-0 in sets against UMAC opponents.
Abby Glanzer (Brandon, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian),
Marley Aune (New Brighton, Minn./Avail Academy), and
Kiera Brown (Columbia Falls, Mont./Columbia Falls) all had kills early on in the first set to power the Eagles to an early 6-2 lead. The Eagles would not surrender that lead for the remainder of the opening set. Northwestern led Bethany Lutheran 21-11 before they would score four consecutive points to close out set one. Brown and Aune each had another kill in this stretch and
Marylyn Schroyer (Ft. Collins, Colo./Ft. Collins) added an ace. UNW cruised to a 25-11 first set win.
The Eagles would jump out to another big lead in the second set, this time they led 7-1 in the early stages. Glanzer continued to pace the Eagles offensively with three early kills in the second set on her way to a monster performance on Friday night. The Vikings would struggle to take any momentum away from the Eagles in the second set. They were unable to score back-to-back points against the Eagles in the entirety of the second set. UNW would go on to take a 2-0 lead thanks to a 25-9 victory in set two.
The third set was the closest of the bunch on Friday evening. However, the Eagles would still retain control on their way to a 3-0 sweep over the Vikings. For the first time in the match, Bethany Lutheran was able to jump out to an early lead. The Eagles trailed 5-2 in the third set. That lead would be short lived for the home team.
Abby Glanzer (Brandon, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian) and
Ari Schmidt (Albany, Minn./Holdingford) would each pick up kills and UNW trailed 5-4 before BLC responded with a point of their own and went back up 6-4. The Eagles would then permanently erase the deficit by scoring five straight points thanks to a kill and an ace from
Marylyn Schroyer (Ft. Collins, Colo./Ft. Collins) and a trio of attacking errors courtesy of the Vikings. The Eagles would not trail again in the set and would go on to end the match with a 25-14 win.
Abby Glanzer (Brandon, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian) continues to solidify her resume as one of the best players in the country. She finished with 22 kills in three sets (7.3 kills per set) and had a hitting percentage of .556. On top of her jaw-dropping offensive hitting numbers she also picked up a pair of aces, two total blocks, and three digs.
Ari Schmidt (Albany, Minn./Holdingford) had an incredible night offensively as well. The junior finished with nine kills on 11 attacks which gave her an unthinkable hitting percentage of .818. Glanzer and Schmidt were a two-headed monster finishing with 31 of the Eagles' 43 kills on the night.
Hannah Gadient (Goodhue, Minn./Goodhue) led the Eagles with 20 assists and
Grace Strickfaden (Norwood-Young America, Minn./NYA) added 15. The Eagles finished with eight digs as a team with Glanzer, Schroyer, and
Mikayla Wilber (Coon Rapids, Minn./Coon Rapids) all picking up two each and
Cassie Flynn (New Franken, Wis./Luxemburg-Casco) along with Strickfaden each adding one.
The Eagles' next action will come inside the Ericksen Center on Wednesday, November 1
st. #5 UNW will kick off the month of November with a doubleheader against North Central starting at 4:00pm and the nightcap coming against (RV) St. Benedict at 7:00pm.
