ST. PAUL, Minn. – No. 5 University of Northwestern Volleyball opened their season on Friday night against Bethel University (RV) at home in the Ericksen Center. The match closed the opening night of the
Kathryne Pals Legacy Invitational. The Eagles soared to a 3-0 sweep of the Royals to start out the season with a win.
Up 5-4 early in the opening set, Northwestern proceeded to win the next six points to take an 11-4 lead. Bethel rallied with a 5-2 run to cut their deficit down to four trailing 13-9. The Eagles later led 17-12 until a 5-0 run put them up 22-12. The Royals kept up the fight and rallied with a 6-2 run, but a kill by
Abby Glanzer (Brandon, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian) clinched the 25-18 set win for Northwestern.
In the second set, the Eagles took an early 9-3 lead. Bethel battled back and started chipping away at Northwestern's lead, bringing the score to 15-12. Northwestern then caught fire and proceeded to win 10 of the next 11 points, finishing with a
Marylyn Schroyer (Ft. Collins, Colo./Ft. Collins) service ace to take the second set 25-13.
The third set saw the Eagles and Royals battle neck-and-neck for the opening half of the set. Neither team led by more than two points until Northwestern, leading 13-12, went on a 6-1 run to take a 19-13 lead. UNW won three of the next five points to go up 22-15. Bethel then took three in a row, but the Eagles answered with two of their own to reach match point. The Royals proceeded to battle back with a five-point run to get within one point down 24-23. However, on the sixth match point, Northwestern clinched the match on a Bethel attack error to finish the 3-0 sweep.
Glanzer led the Eagles with 13 kills in the match.
Grace Moravchik (Mason, Wis./Ashland) followed with eight kills on a .294 hitting percentage.
Grace Strickfaden (Norwood-Young America, Minn./NYA) had a team-high 18 assists. Schroyer had 22 digs for the Eagles.
Marley Aune (New Brighton, Minn./Avail Academy) had five total blocks, three of which were solo.
Up next for No. 5 Northwestern is a pair of home matches to close out the Kathryne Pals Legacy Invitational on Saturday, September 2. The Eagles first battle the Coe College Kohawks (RV) at 12:00pm and then take on the Concordia University Wisconsin Falcons at 2:00pm.
