ST. PAUL, Minn. –– The No. 12 University of Northwestern Volleyball team (3-3) lost to No. 7 UW-Whitewater (7-0) in the final game of the KTIS Classic on Saturday afternoon. The Warhawks won in three sets to edge out Northwestern as the only undefeated team on the weekend. The loss for UNW ended a streak of three consecutive sweep wins by the Eagles over AVCA Top-25 teams.
After beating Cornell in four sets, the Warhawks came out on fire against the Eagles. They jumped out to an early 6-2 lead before the Eagles called their first timeout. Whitewater extended the lead to 11-4 before Northwestern tried to claw their way back into the set. The Eagles made it 12-8 before Whitewater won the next five points. Whitewater continued to put pressure on the Eagles and won the set 25-13.
The two sides traded points early in the second set with Whitewater taking the 14-12 lead halfway through. The Warhawks won the next four points but Northwestern clawed back to make it 19-16 Whitewater. The Warhawks extended the lead to 24-17 before they eventually won the set 25-20.
The two sides exchanged points again to start the third set. It was 9-7 before Whitewater went on a run to end the match. They finished on a 16-6 run to win the third set 25-13.
Whitewater took advantage of 29 Northwestern attack errors to sweep the Eagles. The Warhawks also used 13.0 total blocks to win the top-fifteen matchup. After the conclusion of the game, Ari Schmidt (Albany, Minn./Holdingford) was named to the All-Tournament Team after a stellar weekend on the right side.
Northwestern continues its run of ranked opponents when it takes on No. 6 Emory University on Friday, September 13th in UNW's VolleyWOW Weekend. First serve is scheduled for 7:00 PM in the Ericksen Center.
KTIS Classic All-Tournament Team
- Alayna Jansky (UW-Whitewater)
- Aubrie Krzus (UW-Whitewater)
- Ari Schmidt (Albany, Minn./Holdingford) (Northwestern)
- Ilah Perez-Johnson (Cornell)
- Bella Boston (Berry)
Tournament MVP
- Alayna Jansky (UW-Whitewater)
