ST. PAUL, Minn. – August 30
th, 2024 commenced what is expected to be one of the most exciting falls of volleyball the Ericksen Center has ever seen. No. 7 University of Northwestern's home schedule has nine of the preseason AVCA top 25 slated to travel to St. Paul for non-conference contests, which began Friday night in the fifth-annual Kathryne Pals Legacy Invitational. It was perhaps the most-anticipated event of the night in all of NCAA Division III athletics, as the Eagles hosted No. 2 Hope College, fresh off an appearance in the National Championship game last season. Despite a raucous, standing room only, Ericksen Center crowd, the Flying Dutch were able to emerge victorious, 3-0.
There were perhaps some early jitters on both sides given the atmosphere and enormity of the matchup, as both teams had their fair share of service errors in the first set. The two DIII powerhouses went back-and-forth for most of the set, with neither team able to open up more than a three-point edge.
Abby Glanzer (Brandon, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian), who was an AVCA First Team All-American in 2023, had four kills in the opening set, the last of which came directly after making one of UNW's patented "honor calls," when an Eagle admits to the officials that a point originally awarded to them should go to the opponent instead. After Glanzer got the point back with the aforementioned kill the following sequence, Hope was able to claim the final two points to seal a thrilling, 25-23 set one victory.
Unfortunately for Northwestern and the sellout crowd donning purple and gold, the Dutch seized the momentum from that point on and didn't relent. After
Ari Schmidt (Albany, Minn./Holdingford) hammered home a kill to cut Hope's lead to 7-5 in the second set, the visitors rattled off seven consecutive points, forcing
Beth Wilmeth to burn both her timeouts in the process. The closest the Eagles were able to get was eight points, as the Flying Dutch took set two by a 25-13 margin.
UNW appeared to find its footing again early in set three, as kills by Glanzer and the lengthy freshman,
Miranda Wyatt (Manhattan, Mont./Manhattan Christian), evened the score at 4. That's when Hope once again went on a run, this time 6-0, to open up a 10-4 advantage. Schmidt and
Marley Aune (New Brighton, Minn./Avail Academy) stopped the bleeding with back-to-back kills, but the reigning national runners-up stole the next nine of 11 points to push the lead to 19-8. The Eagles did make a 5-0 surge to trim the lead to six, sparked by consecutive blocks by senior captain
Kiera Brown (Columbia Falls, Mont./Columbia Falls), but it was too little, too late as the Dutch recovered to ultimately win the set, 25-15, and finish off the sweep.
Glanzer's seven kills led the way for Northwestern, followed closely by Schmidt and Wyatt with six apiece.
Addeson Jenniges (Walnut Grove, Minn./Westbrook-Walnut Grove), one of three freshmen to start for the veteran Eagles, led the team with 12 assists, while
Grace Strickfaden (Norwood-Young America, Minn./NYA) tallied 11. New libero
Hannah Rich (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North) finished with team-highs in aces (2) and digs (10). Strickfaden and Glanzer each added six digs, while Brown logged a team-high 1.5 total blocks.
The Kathryne Pals Legacy Invitational will continue Saturday as the four competing teams will each play two more games concurrently. No. 7 Northwestern will take on (RV) Coe College at 11:00 AM, followed by No. 17 Washington University in St. Louis at 1:00 PM. You can catch all the action live at the Ericksen Center, or on the Eagle Sports Network, an affiliate of the UMAC Sports Network.
