ST. PAUL, Minn.- #3 University of Northwestern Volleyball played their final two regular season games of 2023 on Saturday and came away with a split. The Eagles traveled to Crown in the afternoon and swept the Polars 3-0 to complete the perfect conference regular season. UNW finishes the season atop the UMAC at 14-0 and won all 42 sets they played against UMAC teams this regular season. In the nightcap, the Eagles hosted St. Catherine University inside the Ericksen Center on Senior Night. They Eagles fell in a five set thriller, 3-2.
Game One: Crown
The Eagles had clinched the UMAC Regular Season Title and the number one seed in next week's conference tournament on Friday night, but were still looking to complete the undefeated UMAC regular season on Saturday against Crown. They were able to do just that winning 3-0 (25-16, 25-16, 25-13).
The Eagles cruised to a victory by winning the hitting percentage battle by a wide margin. UNW finished with a team hitting percentage of .243 while holding Crown to a percentage of .032 over the course of the three sets. The Eagles had a whopping 52 kills in the match with 47 of those coming off of an assist.
Grace Strickfaden (Norwood-Young America, Minn./NYA) had one of the best stat lines of her career at UNW. The junior finished with 43 assists on the night, which was just four short of her career high which also took place against Crown earlier this season. She added 13 digs in Saturday's match.
A pair of seniors,
Kiera Brown (Columbia Falls, Mont./Columbia Falls) and
Caitlyn Pruis (Sioux Falls, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian), led the Eagles offensively in the contest. Brown finished with 13 kills on a .500 hitting percentage while Pruis finished with 10 kills.
Ari Schmidt (Albany, Minn./Holdingford) added nine kills and
Cassie Flynn (New Franken, Wis./Luxemburg-Casco) finished with seven.
Ashley Hinrichs (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Xavier), another senior, was fantastic defensively for the Eagles, leading her team with 20 digs in the match.
Hannah Rich (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North) had 16 digs and
Ella Bourne (Clara City, Minn./MACCRAY) was behind her with 14.
Game Two: St. Catherine
The Eagles had a short turnaround in between games one and two. With only four hours in between games, the Eagles traveled home from St. Bonifacius to take on St. Cate's inside the Ericksen Center.
The match against the Wildcats was the final game of the regular season for the Eagles which meant that the game signified Senior Night for the team. UNW Volleyball is saying goodbye to five fantastic seniors at the end of the 2023 season. This senior class has left an incredible legacy off the floor as well as their strong performance between the lines. In the last four years, this senior class has an overall record of 115 wins and only 16 losses. The five seniors that the Eagles honored before the match were
Marylyn Schroyer (Ft. Collins, Colo./Ft. Collins),
Caitlyn Pruis (Sioux Falls, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian),
Ashley Hinrichs (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Xavier),
Kiera Brown (Columbia Falls, Mont./Columbia Falls), and
Cassie Flynn (New Franken, Wis./Luxemburg-Casco).
After the Senior Night ceremony, the Eagles also had a short ceremony during the pregame in which
Kiera Brown (Columbia Falls, Mont./Columbia Falls) was celebrated for reaching the 400 blocks milestone in a recent contest. She is only the sixth player in program history to reach that milestone and was given a volleyball to commemorate the accomplishment.
Once the match started, the Eagles got off to a fast start. UNW cruised to a 25-12 win set one and then won 25-19 in the second set to take a 2-0 lead.
Despite trailing 2-0 to the third ranked team in the country on the road, St. Cate's refused to go away. They battled back and avoided the sweep by winning the third set 25-20. They would then follow that up with a 25-21 win in the fourth set and a tight 15-13 win in set five. The Wildcats upset the Eagles 3-2.
Abby Glanzer (Brandon, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian) and
Ari Schmidt (Albany, Minn./Holdingford) were the Eagles' biggest offensive threats in the game each finishing with 17 kills. Schmidt finished with a .412 hitting percentage while Glanzer added eight digs.
Marylyn Schroyer (Ft. Collins, Colo./Ft. Collins) and
Hannah Rich (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North) led the charge defensively. Schroyer had 26 digs and Rich had 20.
Mikayla Wilber (Coon Rapids, Minn./Coon Rapids) added 17 digs of her own.
Grace Strickfaden (Norwood-Young America, Minn./NYA) was the fourth Eagle to finish with double digit digs. She had 10 digs to go along with her 26 assists.
Hannah Gadient (Goodhue, Minn./Goodhue) had 18 assists in the contest.
Serving was an asset for the Eagles all night long as they finished with 10 aces. Glanzer had four, Schroyer had three while Strickfaden, Wilber, and Rich all had one.
Up Next
The Eagles' magical and memorable 2023 regular season is officially over, but the 2023 postseason is about to begin. The Eagles finish with an overall record of 27-4 and 14-0 in the UMAC. UNW is the number one seed in the UMAC tournament and will host the fourth seeded Martin Luther College Knights in the UMAC Semifinals at 7:00pm on Wednesday night.
