RIVER FALLS, Wis. – On Wednesday night in River Falls, the University of Northwestern Volleyball team got its All-American—and its mojo—back.
Abby Glanzer (Brandon, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian) returned to the Northwestern lineup after missing seven matches due to injury and sparked the Eagles to a 3-0 sweep of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.
Believe it or not, UNW's back was against the wall early. UW-River Falls jumped out to a 5-1 lead before
Marley Aune (New Brighton, Minn./Avail Academy) started to do her thing. The junior blocked two UWRF attacks (one with the help of
Ari Schmidt (Albany, Minn./Holdingford)) and picked up a kill to help Northwestern tie the first set at seven. The Eagles took their first lead of the set when
Grace Strickfaden (Norwood-Young America, Minn./NYA) capped off a 3-0 spurt with back-to-back aces, putting UNW ahead, 11-10. Later, Aune picked up back-to-back aces of her own as part of another 3-0 run that made it 19-16, Eagles. The Falcons were able to tie it up at 19, but a 4-0 UNW charge that included another Strickfaden ace put the visitors back in command. River Falls was able to get the lead down to one twice more, but Schmidt finished the set off with a monstrous kill to give Northwestern a 25-23 win.
The Eagles kept the momentum on their side as set two began. Schmidt and
Grace Moravchik (Mason, Wis./Ashland) both picked up early kills to give their team a 3-0 edge. An 8-0 run highlighted by two consecutive
Addeson Jenniges (Walnut Grove, Minn./Westbrook-Walnut Grove) aces helped UNW open up an 11-3 advantage, and Northwestern never looked back. Moravchik and Aune each tallied four kills in the set and Schmidt three, as the Eagles rolled to a dominant, 25-12 win in the second set.
UNW continued to ride the momentum wave into the third set, opening up a 4-0 lead behind two
Miranda Wyatt (Manhattan, Mont./Manhattan Christian) kills and Glanzer's second ace of the night. The lead grew to 12-4 and it looked like Northwestern was going to cruise to another easy win to complete the sweep, but UW-River Falls had other ideas. The hosts put together a 5-0 run to trim the deficit to three, but Schmidt and
Anna Olsen (Randolph, Minn./Randolph) were able to keep the Falcons at an arm's length. That was, until another 5-0 run by UWRF tied the set at 22. The Eagles' All-Americans stepped up, however, as Schmidt put her team back in front with a kill and Aune sealed the deal with a pair of blocks to win the set, 25-23, and complete the sweep.
Schmidt hit .300 on her way to a team-high 11 kills. Moravchik added eight, nine digs and two blocks, while Aune logged six kills and six blocks. Olsen tallied six kills as well (four in the third set), hitting an impressive .455.
Mikayla Wilber (Coon Rapids, Minn./Coon Rapids) continued her strong play as libero, leading the team with 19 digs. Glanzer, playing primarily in the back row, finished with eight digs and two aces. Strickfaden led the team in assists (19) and aces (3), while Jenniges added 10 and two, respectively. Wyatt chipped in three blocks as well. The Eagles out-hit the Falcons .246 to .144 while also clearing them in aces (10-3) and blocks (10-3).
Northwestern (14-7, 7-0 UMAC) will return to UMAC play with a pair of road games on Saturday. UNW will take on Northland College at 1:00 PM before squaring off with UW-Superior in the UMAC Game of the Week at 5:00 PM. Both games can be seen on the UMAC Sports Network.
