ST. PAUL, Minn. - It's Upper Midwest Athletic Conference Volleyball Tournament time, and the University of Northwestern Volleyball team got the memo. UNW, who is once again receiving AVCA Division III Top 25 votes this week, was locked in from the first serve en route to a 3-0 sweep of the No. 4-seed University of Minnesota Morris in Wednesday night's UMAC Semifinal inside the Ericksen Center. The 22-7 Eagles will aim to claim a seventh-consecutive UMAC Tournament Championship on Saturday, and the 15th in the
Beth Wilmeth era.
It was apparent from the outset that Northwestern had turned on its playoff mentality, as the Eagles jumped out to 6-0 and 13-2 leads in the opening set behind three
Marley Aune (New Brighton, Minn./Avail Academy) kills and two from
Anna Olsen (Randolph, Minn./Randolph). Aces from
Elese Paplow (Lakefield, Minn./Jackson County Central) and
Ella Bourne (Clara City, Minn./MACCRAY) brought the score to set point, and
Anja Jarchow (Luverne, Minn./Luverne) finished off the 25-10 shellacking with a kill.
Two early Jarchow kills and three straight from
Ana Egge (Rapid City, S.D./Rapid City Christian) allowed UNW to gain a 7-5 edge in set two, but Morris ripped off a 6-0 run to surge in front. Back-to-back
Miranda Wyatt (Manhattan, Mont./Manhattan Christian) kills got Northwestern back on track, but the Cougars still held the advantage until a 4-0 run featuring a pair of
Addeson Jenniges (Walnut Grove, Minn./Westbrook-Walnut Grove) aces, plus a kill and a block from Wyatt, put the hosts back in front, 20-19. Another 4-0 run with alternating kills from Olsen and Wyatt made it set point at 24-20, and the duo finished off the set with a tandem block at 25-22.
Olsen and Egge continued to dominate at the net in the third set, as they would go on to finish the match hitting .526 and .360, respectively. The Eagles led 10-8 until a 4-1 run put UMM back in the driver's seat. But the UMAC regular season champions did what champions do, responding with a 7-0 onslaught to seize control at 18-12. Jarchow had three kills in the sequence, Aune added two and Bourne picked up another ace. Minnesota Morris tried to claw back into it but a 5-0 run including two kills and a block from Aune, who hit a blistering .529 in the match, all but sealed it. Egge finished it off with a pair of kills to win the set, 25-17, and the match, 3-0.
Egge finished the night with 12 kills and two blocks, while Aune tacked on 11 and five, respectively. Olsen also finished with 11 kills and added two blocks, and Jarchow finished with seven and two. Wyatt contributed three blocks, while Jenniges dished out 37 assists and aced the Cougars twice. Bourne also tallied two aces and led the team in digs with 10, while Paplow and
Mikayla Wilber (Coon Rapids, Minn./Coon Rapids) also added an ace apiece.
Grace Moravchik (Mason, Wis./Ashland) was second on the team in digs with nine. As a team, Northwestern hit .318 compared to Morris's .093.
The Eagles will be playing in the UMAC Tournament Championship game for the 18th-consecutive season on Saturday when they host second-seeded UW-Superior at 7:00 PM. They have won 14 of those 17 matches and will look to automatically qualify for the NCAA Division III National Tournament for the sixth-consecutive opportunity (there was no tournament in 2020). UNW defeated Superior in four sets both times the teams met in the regular season.
