ASHLAND, Wis.- #4 University of Northwestern Volleyball completed their two game UMAC road trip on Saturday afternoon when they made the trip from Superior, Wisconsin (defeating the Yellowjackets 3-0 on Friday night) to Ashland, Wisconsin to take on the Lumberjills from Northland College. The Eagles are officially "on a roll" as they defeated Northland 3-0, winning their seventh consecutive match. The team has won five straight matches by way of a sweep of the opponent.
Today's match followed the same script as Friday night's contest as the Eagles played clean and effective volleyball and won all three sets in convincing fashion. #4 UNW won in straight sets: 25-9, 25-17, 25-12.
Refusing to commit a high number of attacking errors was the recipe for the Eagles' Friday night win and they followed the same game plan on Saturday. UNW finished with 45 kills on 98 total attacks (.378) and only committed eight attacking errors. Eight Eagles combined for the 45 kills.
"Offense wins games, but defense wins championships" is an old phrase heard in sports and the Eagles played strong defense as well in Ashland on Saturday afternoon. Northland was only able to muster up 16 kills on their 80 total attacks for a percentage of .050. The Eagles' defense finished with 45 digs and eight total blocks at the net.
Marley Aune (New Brighton, Minn./Avail Academy) was spectacular for the Eagles on Saturday afternoon. The sophomore has been showing off her versatility over the past couple of weeks as she was named the UMAC Defensive Player of the Week a week ago, but it was her offense that stood out in Saturday's match. She finished the game with 13 kills on 17 attempts for a mind-boggling hitting percentage of .706.
Ari Schmidt (Albany, Minn./Holdingford) hit .364 and had 10 kills.
Marylyn Schroyer (Ft. Collins, Colo./Ft. Collins) led the Eagles with 17 digs.
Felicia Luther (Victoria, Minn./Southwest Christian) and
Grace Strickfaden (Norwood-Young America, Minn./NYA) each had 15 assists.
After playing two conference games on the road this weekend, the Eagles will change it up this upcoming week. They are back at home against a nonconference opponent on Tuesday, October 3
rd. The Eagles host the 2021 NCAA Division III National Champions UW-Eau Claire at 7:00pm on VIP night inside the Ericksen Center.
