ST. PAUL, Minn. - The University of Northwestern Volleyball team learned who it would be playing in Thursday's opening round of the NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championship during Monday's tournament selection show, and it was quite a familiar foe. The fourth-seeded Eagles will square off with No. 5-seed St. Olaf College at 4:30 PM in the Bloomington, Illinois Regional on the campus of Illinois Wesleyan University. UNW finished at 33rd in the NPI selection rankings, the highest-ranked team in Minnesota. Four Minnesota teams made the field, with St. Olaf right behind Northwestern at 34th, Gustavus Adolphus at 36th and Saint Benedict at 46th. The Eagles went 3-0 against those teams this season. This is the 14th appearance in the NCAA Division III tournament for the program.

Familiar Foes
Northwestern and St. Olaf have already met once this season in the KTIS Classic, where UNW won a five-set thriller on its home floor. This will be the 33rd time the two squads have faced one another, with the Oles leading the series, 21-11. Head Coach Beth Wilmeth is 6-7 against St. Olaf in her 22 seasons at the helm.

A Closer Look at the Oles
Alicia Wood's squad left the KTIS Classic with a 3-4 record that became 5-6 the next weekend, but won its next 17-matches, including upsets of at-the-time No. 1 UW-Whitewater and No. 24 Gustavus, to vault back into the national conversation. The Oles have been receiving votes in the AVCA Top 25 Poll since September 30th, and was the 26th-ranked team in the most-recent poll on November 11th. They swept Bethel in the MIAC Seminfinals before losing the MIAC Championship match in five sets to Saint Ben's. Wood was named MIAC Coach of the Year in just her second season in charge, while senior libero Morgan Ryan, a member of the KTIS Classic All-Tournament Team, was awarded MIAC Defensive Player of the Year. In addition to Ryan, outside hitter Mehsa Krause, outside hitter Evelyn Kreft, and middle blocker Maren Miller were named MIAC All-Conference, while setter Paige Christophersen earned Honorable Mention recognition.

Soaring to Greatness
Northwestern put together quite a season turnaround itself after a tough start to the season. The Eagles held a 4-5 record following an 0-3 weekend at the Trinity National Invitational in San Antonio, but won 15 of their next 16 matches, including taking down then-No. 3 UW-Oshkosh and No. 20 Gustavus, with the only loss coming to then-No. 8 UW-Eau Claire (who has since moved up to No. 5). UNW earned its spot in the dance by sweeping Minnesota Morris in the UMAC Semifinals and defeating UW-Superior in four sets in the title match to remain unbeaten (14-0) against conference opponents in 2025. The team's regular season conference championship was the 28th in program history, the 19th under Beth Wilmeth and the 15th-in-a-row. The Eagles' conference tournament crown was their 18th total, their 15th under Wilmeth and their seventh-straight. Northwestern's Marley Aune (New Brighton, Minn./Avail Academy), who is the Division III active leader in career blocks and is currently second in the country in total blocks, was named UMAC Player of the Year last week, and was joined on the All-UMAC First Team by Ana Egge (Rapid City, S.D./Rapid City Christian), Anja Jarchow (Luverne, Minn./Luverne), Addeson Jenniges (Walnut Grove, Minn./Westbrook-Walnut Grove) and Miranda Wyatt (Manhattan, Mont./Manhattan Christian), while Anna Olsen (Randolph, Minn./Randolph) received Honorable Mention honors. Jenniges also finds herself among the best at her position in Division III, as her 10.57 assists per set rank sixth.

Extended Stay in Bloomington?
Illinois Wesleyan's Shirk Center, where this week's regional will be played, is also the site of this year's NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball National Championship, hosting the national quarterfinals, semifinals and championship. The Eagles will hope to spend two out of the next three weeks in the Shirk Center, as the NCAA pauses the tournament the week of Thanksgiving.

We will have coverage from Illinois all week on unweagles.com and all unweagles social channels.