TWIN CITIES, Minn.- Saturday was a day that saw #4 University of Northwestern Volleyball look back and celebrate the past while also celebrate their present on the court. The Eagles picked up a win in two major cities on Saturday; defeating Minnesota-Morris 3-0 at home in St. Paul and then travelling to Minneapolis to defeat North Central 3-0 in the evening.
Game One: Minnesota-Morris
The Eagles played the Cougars at noon inside the Ericksen Center. The game took place on Homecoming Saturday at Northwestern and also marked the 50 Years of UNW Volleyball Celebration. Prior to the game, the Eagles held a short ceremony that honored the incredible legacy that Northwestern Volleyball has established over the last 50 seasons. Every Eagle Volleyball alumni in attendance was asked to stand and was recognized for their service to the program. Dr. Barb Lindman was also recognized and honored for her contributions as the first coach in program history and also the person who is credited with starting the program. It was a special afternoon for everybody who has been involved with Eagle Volleyball.
On the court, the Eagles pulled out a hard fought victory over a tough Minnesota-Morris team. All three sets were very tightly contested and that was the case in the opening set. The set entered the late stages all tied up at 21-21. UNW then scored the final four points to take a 1-0 lead.
Ari Schmidt (Albany, Minn./Holdingford) picked up back to back kills before
Kiera Brown (Columbia Falls, Mont./Columbia Falls) added one of her own. An error by the Cougars ended the set.
The second set was incredibly memorable for many reasons. First of all, it was an instant classic type of a set as it took the Eagles a long time to finally put the Cougars away. Morris used an 8-0 run to take an 11-5 lead. The Eagles would attempt to fight back but still trailed 21-18.
Abby Glanzer (Brandon, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian) picked up two kills and then
Grace Moravchik (Mason, Wis./Ashland) had one to help the Eagles go on a 5-0 run of their own. UMM scored three straight and went up 24-23. UNW scored back to back points and led 25-24. Morris scored twice and led 26-25. The Eagles scored and tied the game at 26 all. Morris scored and went up 27-26 (we apologize if this is getting repetitive, but this set really was crazy). The Eagles went up 28-27 after back to back points. The Cougars tied it up at 28. Finally, the set came to an end thanks to kills from
Abby Glanzer (Brandon, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian) and
Kiera Brown (Columbia Falls, Mont./Columbia Falls). The Eagles won the second set 30-28.
The other reason that the second set was memorable was that senior libero
Marylyn Schroyer (Ft. Collins, Colo./Ft. Collins) picked up her 3,000
th career dig. She is the first Eagle to ever reach this milestone and is remarkably only the 10
th player in the history of NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball to join the 3,000 career digs club. Schroyer is already the all-time leader in digs in school history and continues to make that mark more challenging for another individual to reach with every game she plays. Congratulations to
Marylyn Schroyer (Ft. Collins, Colo./Ft. Collins), who is not only one of the best defensive players in UNW Volleyball history, but also NCAA Division III history!
The Eagles would win another tight set in the third and final set, winning 25-22. The Eagles moved to 6-0 in UMAC play with the victory.
Game Two: North Central
Having picked up a sweep at noon, the Eagles picked up another one only five hours later. This time, the Eagles were playing on the road. They traveled to downtown Minneapolis to take on the North Central University Rams.
In this contest, the sets were not as tightly contested as they were in UNW's first match of the day. The Eagles picked up the win in straight sets by scores of 25-11, 25-15, and 25-14.
Kiera Brown (Columbia Falls, Mont./Columbia Falls) had a brilliant offensive game finishing with a team high nine kills on a .533 percentage. She also had three blocks and a dig defensively.
Grace Moravchik (Mason, Wis./Ashland) finished with seven kills and four digs.
Ari Schmidt (Albany, Minn./Holdingford) had six kills on only seven attempts.
Mikayla Wilber (Coon Rapids, Minn./Coon Rapids) had 10 digs and three aces.
Hannah Rich (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North) had seven digs.
Grace Strickfaden (Norwood-Young America, Minn./NYA) had 24 assists and
Hannah Gadient (Goodhue, Minn./Goodhue) added nine.
Up Next
The Eagles will now prepare for their biggest road trip of the season. It is a road trip so big, that it won't actually take place on the road. #4 UNW Volleyball will be flying to New York City to play in the 2023 NYU Invitational. The Eagles will play #10 New York University, #20 North Park University, and Rowan University.
