ST. PAUL, Minn. - There will be no sharing when it comes to the 2026 Upper Midwest Athletic Conference Regular Season Volleyball title. No. 24 University of Northwestern made sure of that in a dominant sweep over Bethany Lutheran College on Friday night, just two days after a disappointing loss to Gustavus Adolphus College on its home floor. The Eagles showed no signs of dwelling on Wednesday's result, cruising to a 25-11, 25-12, 25-13 win to claim their 29th UMAC regular season title in program history, and their 16th-in-a-row.
Northwestern's front row was cooking early and often in the opening set, as
Norah Jaeb (Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong),
Ana Egge (Rapid City, S.D./Rapid City Christian) and
Abbie Brand (Pella, Iowa/Pella) combined for five kills to give UNW a 10-3 advantage. An 11-2 run, featuring two
Alana Costello (Mead, Colo./Mead) aces and one from
Libby Weckman (Shakopee, Minn./Southwest Christian), closed out the set, with Brand delivering the finishing blow at 25-11.
With the score knotted at four, early in the second set, Weckman aced the Vikings twice to spark a 9-0 surge to put the Eagles firmly in control once again. Northwestern then produced a 10-1 run to bring the score to set point at 24-8, highlighted by three-consecutive
Elese Paplow (Lakefield, Minn./Jackson County Central) aces, two-straight aces from
Addeson Jenniges (Walnut Grove, Minn./Westbrook-Walnut Grove) and a pair of
Taylor Dick (Olathe, Kans./Olathe East) kills. BLC was able to rattle off four-straight points to delay the inevitable, but a powerful
Miranda Wyatt (Manhattan, Mont./Manhattan Christian) kill closed it out at 25-12.
Kills from four different Eagles, and another Costello ace, allowed to hosts to sprint out to a 7-1 lead in set three, and they never looked back. Three Wyatt kills headlined a 7-0 explosion to extend the margin to 18-7, and a pair of Brand kills, plus a Weckman ace, ended the match with a 25-13, set-three final.
Despite only 38 kills as a team, UNW was efficient at the net, in addition to tallying 13 service aces. Egge led the way with nine kills on .500 hitting, while Wyatt and Jaeb followed suit with seven each. Brand logged five kills, while Costello led the defensive efforts with a match-high 14 digs, plus three aces. Weckman finished with four aces to lead all servers, Paplow tallied three, and Jenniges chipped in two, in addition to a match-high 21 assists.
Maia Marvel (Brooklyn Park, Minn./Maranatha Christian) also added a late ace off the bench.
Northwestern will host Martin Luther for its Senior Day match at 11:00 AM on Saturday to close out the regular season.
