ST. PAUL, Minn. – The University of Northwestern Volleyball team is going dancing once again. After a perfect 12-0 regular season in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference, the Eagles took care of business in the UMAC Volleyball Tournament to automatically qualify for its 14
th NCAA Division III National Tournament appearance with a 3-1 win over the University of Wisconsin-Superior. It is the 18
th time UNW has won the UMAC Tournament, the seventh time in a row and the 15
th time under
Beth Wilmeth.
Marley Aune (New Brighton, Minn./Avail Academy) was named Tournament MVP after putting up 16 kills and eight blocks in the 3-1 win over the Yellowjackets, and 11 kills and five blocks in the semifinal win over Minnesota Morris.
Aune made her presence known from the opening serve, racking up two solo blocks and one block assist (with
Anna Olsen (Randolph, Minn./Randolph)) in the first three points. The senior, who was also named UMAC Player of the Year this week, added two kills and another solo block to give Northwestern a 7-3 advantage, then
Miranda Wyatt (Manhattan, Mont./Manhattan Christian) joined the block party with two assists and a solo, plus a kill, as part of a 6-0 Eagles run to extend the lead to 15-6. Wyatt, Aune and
Anja Jarchow (Luverne, Minn./Luverne) all contributed multiple kills down the stretch as UNW cruised to a 25-14 win in the opener. Aune finished the set with four kills and five blocks, while Wyatt chipped in three and five, respectively.
Despite the lopsided first-set score, UW-Superior came out firing in the second. The visitors opened up a 9-5 lead, but a 7-1 Northwestern sequence, featuring three more Aune kills, put the Eagles in front, 14-12. UWS battled back and took a 19-18 lead, but the hosts responded with three-in-a-row. The back-and-forth war continued, and UNW was able to force set point after an
Ana Egge (Rapid City, S.D./Rapid City Christian) kill made it 24-22, but Superior stunned the packed Ericksen Center, scoring four-straight to steal the set, 26-14.
The early stages of set three showed promise of another tight frame as well, but Northwestern went on a 6-1 run to give itself a 13-8 cushion, finally putting some more blocks on the board after having just one in the second set. The Jackets pulled within two, but back-to-back Egge kills and an Aune ace made it 19-14. Olsen and Jarchow each notched kills in the closing moments to win the set, 25-20, and move ahead 2-1 in the match.
Aune continued to dominate, logging two kills and an ace early in set four. With the set tied, 6-6, the Eagles scored three-consecutive points and never relented the lead. Aune, Egge, Olsen and Jarchow all contributed multiple kills as the Ericksen Center crowd began to taste another NCAA Tournament berth. When all was said and done, UNW had wore UW-Superior down and closed the match out with a 25-15 win.
Aune was unstoppable, hitting .371 on her way to 16 kills, eight blocks and an ace. Egge put up 13 kills and five blocks, while Jarchow also reached double figures with 10 kills. Wyatt matched Aune's eight blocks, and Olsen finished with three, in addition to eight kills. Jenniges was on-point, distributing 50 assists with an ace.
Grace Moravchik (Mason, Wis./Ashland) had a match-high 20 digs, while
Hannah Rich (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North) and
Mikayla Wilber (Coon Rapids, Minn./Coon Rapids) followed with 15 and 11, respectively.
Northwestern will learn who and where it is playing during Monday's NCAA Division III National Volleyball Tournament Selection Show, which will air at noon on NCAA.com. We will have full coverage of UNW's entire tournament run on unweagles.com and all unweagles social channels.
