ST. PAUL, Minn. – The No. 12 ranked University of Northwestern Volleyball team entered Friday two wins shy of 1,000 in its program's storied history. The Eagles left little doubt that they would reach the mark before the clock struck midnight, rolling to sweeps over a pair of AVCA Top-25 teams to open the KTIS Classic in the Ericksen Center. Northwestern took down No. 20 Berry College in the tournament's opening match before book-ending the day's games with a nightcap sweep of No. 22 Cornell College.
Game One: Berry College Vikings
To those watching, win No. 999 looked to be in hand just minutes into the game.
Abby Glanzer (Brandon, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian) and the UNW offensive attack seemed to be playing with a chip on their shoulders after a 1-2 opening weekend in the Kathryne Pals Legacy Invitational. Northwestern raced out to a 7-0 lead that became 12-3. Berry started to chip away slightly before a 4-0 Eagles run including two kills by
Grace Moravchik (Mason, Wis./Ashland) and a
Marley Aune (New Brighton, Minn./Avail Academy) ace made it 22-11. The hosts would go on to win set one in dominant fashion, 25-15.
Set two wasn't quite the runway for Northwestern that the opener was. The Vikings got out to a 5-1 lead in the blink of an eye, but UNW settled down and trimmed the deficit to two at 6-4. Berry held an 11-8 advantage before the momentum shifted the Eagles' way via a 5-0 run, punctuated by a pair of Glanzer kills. Suddenly, it was 13-11 in favor of
Beth Wilmeth's squad. The Vikings were able to even the score at 13 before Northwestern went on another 5-0 run, featuring three straight points from senior
Grace Strickfaden (Norwood-Young America, Minn./NYA): a rare kill for the setter, followed by back-to-back aces that ignited the crowd. UNW's lead ballooned to six before Berry made things interesting, cutting the lead to one at 20-19. The Eagles, however, were not rattled, answering back with three consecutive points (two
Ari Schmidt (Albany, Minn./Holdingford) kills and another Aune ace). A
Miranda Wyatt (Manhattan, Mont./Manhattan Christian) hammer from the middle clinched a 25-22, second set win for Northwestern.
The wind seemed to be taken out of Berry's sails after the tight second set loss, as the Vikings found themselves in a quick, 5-0 hole in set three. Glanzer stayed on the attack with two aces in that stretch and
Hannah Rich (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North) added an ace. The lead grew to 13-5 as a multitude of Eagles added kills of their own. Berry was able to claw back to 15-12, but Aune, Glanzer and Schmidt began stonewalling the Vikings at the net and stretched their advantage to 22-14. The visitors from Georgia tried making a late push but it was too little, too late as Moravchik sealed the deal with a kill to win the third set, 25-19, and finish off the sweep.
Glanzer finished the match with a game-high 13 kills and 11 digs, while Schmidt and Moravchik each contributed eight digs.
Addeson Jenniges (Walnut Grove, Minn./Westbrook-Walnut Grove) and Strickfaden both dished out 16 assists, with the latter adding a pair of aces as well. Rich tallied two aces of her own, in addition to 11 digs.
Mikayla Wilber (Coon Rapids, Minn./Coon Rapids) chipped in eight digs as well. Aune was a force both at the net and from the service line, logging five blocks and two aces.
Game Two: Cornell College Rams
The final game of the opening day of the KTIS Classic was a rematch of one of the all-time NCAA Tournament Round of 32 thrillers. Last November, Northwestern reverse-swept Cornell College in the Rams' home gym in dramatic fashion to advance to the Mount Vernon Regional Final, where they would ultimately repeat the feat (more on that later). The Rams and Eagles met again Friday night in front of a packed Ericksen Center, and this time, there were no reverses necessary.
The opening set was, unsurprisingly, a back-and-forth affair. Cornell took its largest lead of the early stages at 7-5 despite a scorching hot start from
Abby Glanzer (Brandon, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian), but UNW rallied to take a 10-8 lead. The teams continued trading 1-2 point advantages until a 3-0 Northwestern spurt put them ahead 21-17. The Rams pulled within one at 22-21, but Northwestern closed the set strong, getting a kill from Glanzer and a block from the dynamic duo of
Marley Aune (New Brighton, Minn./Avail Academy) and
Ari Schmidt (Albany, Minn./Holdingford) to take the opening set, 25-21. Glanzer finished the set with five kills.
The start of set two looked like déjà vu; Cornell and Northwestern traded leads while Glanzer drilled kill after kill to the Ericksen Center floor. Trailing 12-10, UNW exploded for five-consecutive points to put itself on top by three. A 4-0 run moments later increased the Eagles' lead to 20-15 after an Aune ace. The Rams were twice able to pull within three, but
Anna Olsen (Randolph, Minn./Randolph) pounded one home to win the set, 25-21, and put the home team ahead 2-0 in the match.
Cornell drew first (and second) blood in the third set, but Northwestern responded with a 5-0 run, mostly due to errors by its opponent. The lead grew to 10-4 and 13-6 as Schmidt added a couple more kills to her stat line. A Glanzer kill followed by a Rich ace made it 18-10 Eagles, then the rout truly began. Holding a 19-11 advantage, UNW rattled off six straight points, which included three
Grace Strickfaden (Norwood-Young America, Minn./NYA) aces, to put any question of a Cornell comeback to bed. Glanzer (who else) provided the final kill to give Northwestern a 25-12 set three win, a second top-25 sweep on the day, and the 1,000
th win for the program. Although the program has been led by six different people, Head Coach
Beth Wilmeth is responsible for well over half of those wins (528).
Glanzer was terrific once again, tallying 16 kills (seven more than anyone else), six digs, two blocks and an ace. Schmidt logged eight kills and Olsen seven, in addition to five digs. Jenniges and Strickfaden stayed consistent, both finishing with 16 assists for the second straight game. Strickfaden added a game-high three aces. Aune matched her block number from game one as well with five, while Rich led the way with a game-high 10 digs.
Three Saturday games are on deck to close out the KTIS Classic, but Northwestern will have to wait until the finale. It promises to be worth the wait as well, as the No. 12 Eagles will square off with No. 7 UW-Whitewater. UNW and UWW have faced each other plenty of times in recent years, but the last meeting was the game following the aforementioned reverse-sweep of Cornell. The Warhawks suffered the same fate as the Rams, giving Northwestern the regional title and a trip to the Elite Eight. Opening serve is scheduled for 2:00 PM in the Ericksen Center.
