UMAC Game of the Week Archives
ST. PAUL -- The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Game of the Week is a feature that takes place each week throughout the conference portion of the season with one contest being selected and highlighted as the UMAC Game of the Week.
This week's UMAC Game of the Week will take place on Saturday, October 11 in St. Paul as the College of St. Scholastica (5-2 UMAC) travels to the University of Northwestern (7-0) for UMAC volleyball action. First serve is scheduled for 12 p.m. Saturday. The previous meeting this season between the two teams was a five set thriller that saw the Eagles earn the win.
About the Saints
The St. Scholastica volleyball team has hit a little snag this season, dropping three of its last five matches. However, CSS is coming off a sweep of Northland College on Wednesday night at home.
In the first meeting between the Saints and Eagles this season, CSS led the match by two sets, only to see Northwestern rally and even it up. In the fifth set, the Saints had three match points at 14-11, but Northwestern rattled off five straight points to take the match. The last time, CSS held a two set lead and lost was was Sept. 9, 2006 vs. Martin Luther. St. Scholastica's next match was the following weekend at Minnesota Morris. The Saints lost that match in three sets, but had set points in each of the first two sets.
Junior Kortney Morrin leads the team and is second in the conference, averaging 3.27 kills per set. Morrin also ranks fourth in the conference in digs, with 218 on the season so far. Senior Erika Birkeland is tied for second in the league with 23 service aces.
About the Eagles
Northwestern enters this weekend 13-7 overall while the Eagles are the only team to have gone through the first half of UMAC play undefeated at 7-0. UNW rode a nine-match winning streak until losing to Wisconsin-Eau Claire in a nonconference match on Tuesday of this week. The Eagles lead the UMAC in both kills per set (14.6) and hitting percentage (.309), while UNW’s defense is tops in the league in blocks per set (1.96).
Lizzy Jonas, who was named UMAC Setter of the Week for the fourth time in 2014 on Tuesday, leads all NCAA Division III players with 11.93 assists per set and is in the top 10 nationwide for total assists (871). With Northwestern scheduled to play three matches this weekend, Jonas has an opportunity to become the program’s ninth player to eclipse 1,000 assists for her career. Lindsey Peterson comes into the weekend as the Eagles’ top hitter at 3.04 kills per set and a .204 hitting rate. The freshman has posted 15 or more kills in five matches this season. Peterson had 17 kills in UNW’s five-set win over St. Scholastica on Sept. 27.
Defensively, Lizzy Potratz had a career high 36 digs in that same UNW-CSS match. Potratz is averaging over five digs per set in 2014. Faith Vander Galien has had some of her best matches against the Saints. Vander Galien, who had 15 kills in the last St. Scholastica-Northwestern bout, has averaged 2.31 kills per set and a .373 hitting rate in four career matches against CSS.
Game Notes
- St. Scholastica’s Dana Moore (18th season) and Northwestern’s Beth Wilmeth (11th season) are the two longest tenured UMAC head coaches for the sport of volleyball.
- Northwestern leads the all-time series against St. Scholastica 46-38-1. The Eagles have won the last seven contests between the two teams.
- The longest streak one side has had in the series is eight and both teams have hit that number once before.
- CSS has not won at Northwestern since the 2011 season.
- All of St. Scholastica's 10 wins this season have been by three-set sweeps. The Saints are 0-4 in matches that go longer than three sets.
- Northwestern is fifth in the NCAA Division III in kills per set (13.87) and seventh in assists per set, averaging 12.78.
Northwestern Recap |
St. Scholastica Recap |
Final Score: UNW 3, CSS 0
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