ST. PAUL, Minn. – Day two of the 2024 Kathryne Pals Legacy Invitational produced more fireworks as the Ericksen Center housed two courts with games occurring simultaneously. No. 7 University of Northwestern was among the four nationally-touted teams who double dipped on Saturday, and left with a good taste in its mouth. After a rare instance of being on the wrong end of a sweep Friday night versus No. 2 Hope College, Northwestern looked more like its normal self on Saturday. Although the Eagles split the two games they played, the loss was a five-setter to (RV) Coe College and the win was a dominant sweep of Washington University in St. Louis. UNW's
Abby Glanzer (Brandon, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian) was also named to the All-Tournament Team once again.
Game One: (RV) Coe College Kohawks
Northwestern did not get out to the start it expected against the Kohawks. The visitors sprinted out to a 10-3 lead, but UNW was able to claw back and pull within three at 13-10. Remarkably, Coe scored 12 consecutive points to close out set one and win in dominant fashion, 25-10.
To Northwestern's credit, it did not flinch.
Abby Glanzer (Brandon, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian) asserted herself with three early kills in set two to take a 4-1 lead. The lead grew to 10-3 after
Ari Schmidt (Albany, Minn./Holdingford) joined the party with a trifecta of kills herself, and the Eagle faithful in attendance exploded.
Grace Moravchik (Mason, Wis./Ashland) started to bring the hammer as well, but the Kohawks would not go away quietly. They trimmed the deficit to two at 19-17 and 21-19, then rattled off three straight points to make it 23-22, Eagles. A Glanzer kill and a Coe attack error sealed the deal, though, and gave Northwestern a 25-22 set win to draw even in the match.
After a back-and-forth start to the third set, Coe once again turned on the jets, scoring five consecutive points to open up a 7-3 lead. Three more kills by Schmidt got UNW within two at 9-7, but the Kohawks answered back with three straight points. The Eagles continued to lose ground, scoring one point for every two by Coe for some time, before the visitors put up four straight to make the lead 22-12. They wound up taking set three by a 25-15 score to give themselves a 2-1 advantage.
Northwestern once again showed incredible resolve as it attempted to bounce back from a lopsided set loss. The Eagles spread the wealth, getting early kills from Glanzer,
Marley Aune (New Brighton, Minn./Avail Academy), Schmidt, Moravchik and
Miranda Wyatt (Manhattan, Mont./Manhattan Christian) to take a 12-7 lead.
Hannah Rich (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North) made perhaps the play of the day that won't show up on the scoresheet, diving away from the net in the back row and somehow getting the ball over the net on the third touch, much to the delight of the passionate fans in purple. Coe tried to make what was appearing to become one of their patented runs, but UNW rattled off four consecutive points to extend the lead to 18-12. Northwestern kept its foes at an arm's length for the remainder of the set, winning 25-20 and forcing a fifth set.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, the odd-numbered sets were not their friends against Coe. UNW failed to score consecutive points the entire final set, and would lose it 15-6, and the match 3-2. Schmidt's 15 kills paced the Eagles, while Glanzer added 12 and 10 digs. Moravchik logged eight kills and seven digs, and Wyatt tallied a team-high three blocks. Northwestern's setters were both dialed in, as
Addeson Jenniges (Walnut Grove, Minn./Westbrook-Walnut Grove) finished with 22 assists, eight digs and an ace, and
Grace Strickfaden (Norwood-Young America, Minn./NYA) added 19 assists and 11 digs. Rich logged a team-high 22 digs and added an ace as well.
Game Two: No. 17 Washington University Bears
As if the Eagles hadn't already been tested enough throughout the weekend, No. 17 Washington University in St. Louis migrated over from Court Two to Court One for the finale of the tournament for each team. The Bears were coming off a heartbreaking reverse sweep loss to No. 2 Hope just minutes earlier, who swept Northwestern the night before.
Beth Wilmeth's squad evidently isn't in the business of forecasting using the transitive property, as the 13-time defending UMAC champions were locked in from start to finish.
The opening set was tight throughout and the Eagles got contributions from nearly everyone who touched the floor.
Miranda Wyatt (Manhattan, Mont./Manhattan Christian),
Anna Olsen (Randolph, Minn./Randolph),
Abby Glanzer (Brandon, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian) and
Ari Schmidt (Albany, Minn./Holdingford) all logged kills as UNW opened up the largest lead it would have all set at 11-6.
Grace Moravchik (Mason, Wis./Ashland) drilled her third kill of the set to give Northwestern a 19-16 advantage but WashU answered with the next four points to suddenly take its first lead of the match. The teams traded points to keep the score even at 21-21, then the Eagles stole the momentum back thanks to back-to-back kills by Glanzer and Schmidt, and a block by Schmidt and Aune. Two more Schmidt kills handed the opening set to the hosts by a 25-23 margin.
By the time the second set commenced, it was clear Northwestern had found its groove. It opened up a 7-1 lead thanks to strong play on both sides of the net by Glanzer and
Marley Aune (New Brighton, Minn./Avail Academy). The Bears trimmed the deficit to 9-6, but two kills by Moravchik and one by Wyatt put UNW back in front by six. The lead ballooned to seven after a pair of kills by Olsen, then WashU started to slowly chip away. The visitors pulled within one at 21-20, but consecutive blocks at the net swung the momentum back to the team in purple, whose crowd was whipped into a frenzy by that point. Two more blocks by the combination of Aune, Glanzer and Schmidt finished off a 25-22, second set victory.
Apparently finishing the second set with four blocks wasn't satisfying enough for Northwestern, so Wyatt went ahead and snagged another one to open up set three. By the way, you might want to put a pin in the
Miranda Wyatt (Manhattan, Mont./Manhattan Christian) blocks category. We'll touch on that later. Both teams traded small runs as the Eagles continued to get contributions from several different players. Consecutive kills by Olsen and Aune gave them their biggest lead to that point at 14-10, but WashU was able to get the deficit back to two at 18-16. A 5-0 UNW run that was highlighted by three Moravchik kills blew the roof off the Ericksen Center and gave Northwestern an insurmountable lead. A Glanzer match point kill put the exclamation point on a much-needed sweep to give Northwestern some mojo back.
Schmidt finished with a game-high 12 kills, while Glanzer added nine and a game-high 18 digs. Moravchik also tallied nine kills, while Wyatt finished with seven and an astonishing 10 blocks in the three-set match (3.33 per set).
Grace Strickfaden's (Norwood-Young America, Minn./NYA) 20 assists were a team high, and
Addeson Jenniges (Walnut Grove, Minn./Westbrook-Walnut Grove) finished with 18 and 11 digs.
Hannah Rich (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North) logged 17 digs on the defensive end, while
Anna Olsen (Randolph, Minn./Randolph) was solid on both sides of the net, producing six kills and six blocks. Aune was second on the team with seven blocks. As a unit, UNW finished with 18 blocks compared to just five for WashU.
Up Next
Despite a grueling strength of schedule this weekend, it doesn't lighten up for Northwestern moving forward. The Eagles will next be in action next Friday, September 6
th when they host the KTIS Classic, which will feature three nationally ranked teams. UNW's first game in the event will be at 2:00 on Friday versus Berry College.
2024 Kathryne Pals Legacy Invitational All-Tournament Team
- Lauren Lee (Hope)
- Addie VanderWeide (Hope)
- Maddy Maahs (Coe)
- Abby Glanzer (Brandon, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian) (Northwestern)
- Zoe Foster (WashU)
Tournament MVP
