ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – The 16
th-ranked University of Northwestern Volleyball team took a break from its 7-0 UMAC slate to travel to the College of Saint Benedict on Friday night for a non-conference tilt. The match was a thriller, going all the way to five sets, with most producing tight scores. The home team was able to prevail when all was said and done, dropping Northwestern's record to 13-7 on the season.
Three
Anna Olsen (Randolph, Minn./Randolph) kills early in the first set allowed UNW to open up a 10-6 advantage. The Bennies were able to trim the deficit to one at 12-11, but the Eagles were able to answer and push the lead to 18-13. St. Ben's once again made a charge, cutting the lead to one on two occasions, but a
Grace Moravchik (Mason, Wis./Ashland) kill, followed by an Olsen and
Marley Aune (New Brighton, Minn./Avail Academy) block, gave Northwestern a 25-21 win in the opener after a 3-0 closing spurt.
UNW took an early lead in set two as well, as
Hannah Rich's (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North) ace made the score 5-3 in favor of the visitors. CSB countered to take a 10-7 lead, but the Eagles answered right back, getting kills from Aune and
Ari Schmidt (Albany, Minn./Holdingford) to gain a 12-11 edge. The Bennies found their groove after that, surging ahead to take a 21-15 lead. Northwestern was able to get within three on match point after a
Kiera Brown (Columbia Falls, Mont./Columbia Falls) kill and block by the tandem of Schmidt and Aune, but St. Ben's closed it out on the next point, 25-21.
The third set went back-and-forth to start before two Moravchik kills ignited a 3-0 UNW run to put it ahead, 8-5. Brown racked up back-to-back kills to extend the lead to 10-6 shortly thereafter, but CSB closed the gap, making it 13-12, Eagles. Northwestern stole the momentum back, putting together a 6-1 run that featured two kills and a block by Olsen, as well as another Rich ace. A 5-1 run later in the set with two
Ana Egge (Rapid City, S.D./Rapid City Christian) kills brought the score to set point, and Schmidt hammered home the set-clinching kill moments later to take it, 25-17.
The Eagles took an early, 4-3 lead in the fourth set, but that is the last lead they would hold for the remainder of the set.
Beth Wilmeth's crew kept the score within a point or two for most of the set, but wasn't able to climb back on top. Aune put up three kills and three blocks to try and keep UNW afloat, but St. Ben's was able to win by a score of, you guessed it, 25-21, to force a decisive fifth set.
With momentum back on their side, the Bennies got ahead early in the closing set, 3-1. Northwestern punched right back, scoring the next three on an Aune block, an Egge kill and an Aune kill to edge ahead, 4-3. CSB scored the next four to take a 7-4 advantage, but Egge and Moravchik trimmed the deficit to 7-6. Olsen chipped in two more kills before Egge drilled back-to-back kills into the Claire Lynch Hall floor to knot things up at 11. St. Ben's was undaunted, taking the next three points to force match point. Schmidt put up one more kill before the Bennies were able to close out the set, 15-12, and the match, 3-2. With the loss, Northwestern's record fell to 13-7 on the season.
Schmidt, Olsen and Egge each logged 11 kills in the match, with the latter two each adding three blocks as well. Aune put up a remarkable double-double with 10 kills (hitting .455) and 10 blocks, while Moravchik notched a double-double of her own with 11 digs and 10 kills.
Mikayla Wilber (Coon Rapids, Minn./Coon Rapids) tallied a game-high and career-high 28 digs, and Rich added 14 digs and a team-high two aces.
Addeson Jenniges (Walnut Grove, Minn./Westbrook-Walnut Grove) and
Grace Strickfaden (Norwood-Young America, Minn./NYA) dished out 27 and 22 assists, respectively.
The Eagles have another non-conference road game ahead of them as they are set to travel to UW-River Falls on Wednesday, October 23
rd. First serve is scheduled for 7:00 PM in River Falls.
