Northwestern wins UMAC volleyball tournament championship in straight sets
ST. PAUL, Minn.---After losing the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) volleyball tournament championship on its own court a year ago, the No. 1 University of Northwestern avenged the loss to No. 2 University of Minnesota Morris with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-16, 25-20) win Saturday.
The two squads matched up in the conference title game for the seventh-straight season Saturday evening with the No. 2 Cougars looking to defend their postseason title. However, the Eagles snagged a close first set before dominating in the second two to win their seventh title in eight seasons.
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The match started off in exciting fashion as the Cougars and Eagles exchanged points back and forth with neither team leading by more than two points throughout. The Eagles managed to take the opener 25-23, though, after back-to-back errors by the Cougars.
In the second set, the Eagles used the momentum from the first set to build a quick 14-7 lead and never looked back en route to a strong 25-16 win. The Eagles then closed out the match with a 25-20 win in the third to close out the match. The win is the second-straight 3-0 win for the Eagles over the Cougars in less than two weeks.
Jenay Fuglestad led the Eagles with 15 kills hitting .556 with no attacking errors throughout. Added to her semifinal performance of 14 kills, Fuglestad ended the tournament with 29 kills to earn Tournament MVP honors.
The Eagles also had another strong performance from first-year Kendra Hardy who had 12 kills. Sydney Schwitters finished had 37 assists to set up the offense while adding 10 digs for a double-double. Marylyn Schroyer led the defensive effort with a match-high 19 digs.
For the Cougars, Tori Everson had nine kills and 11 digs for a balanced effort. Senior setter Layne Herrmann finished her impressive career with 24 assists and 10 digs for a double-double performance. The Cougars end their season with an overall record of 15-13 after sharing the UMAC regular season title.
The Eagles receive the UMAC automatic qualifier to the NCAA postseason and will learn their postseason fate on Monday, Nov. 11 at 11:30 a.m. at
ncaa.com.
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Quarterfinal Round – Monday, Nov. 4
No. 4 Wisconsin-Superior def No. 5 Bethany Lutheran, 3-0 |
Box Score |
BLC Recap |
UWS Recap |
Semifinal Round – Wednesday, Nov. 6
No. 1 Northwestern def. No. 4 Wisconsin-Superior, 3-2 |
Box Score |
UNW Recap |
UWS Recap |
No. 2 Minnesota Morris def. No. 3 St. Scholastica, 3-1 |
Box Score |
CSS Recap |
UMM Recap |
Championship – Saturday, Nov. 9
No. 1 Northwestern def. No. 2 Minnesota Morris, 3-0 |
Box Score | UMM Recap | UNW Recap |
Tournament Championship Page