ST. PAUL, Minn. – The No. 23 nationally ranked University of Northwestern Eagles (24-8, 13-1 UMAC) won the 2024 UMAC Volleyball Tournament Championship on Saturday night with a 3-0 victory over the University of Wisconsin-Superior Yellowjackets (24-8, 12-2 UMAC). The tournament title is the Eagles’ sixth in a row, 12
th in the past 13 years, and 18
th overall in program history.
Leading 16-12 midway through the opening set, the Eagles went on a four-point run to go up by eight points at 20-12. UNW later led 23-16, at which point the Yellowjackets went on a 5-1 run to get withing three points of the Eagles, trailing 24-21. Abby Glanzer ended the UW-Superior rally with a kill to take the opening set.
In set two, the Yellowjackets went up 11-9. The Eagles then won six consecutive points to go up 15-11. Northwestern later led 18-14 before a five-point run put them up 23-14. UNW would take the set 25-16 on a kill by Ari Schmidt.
Early in the third, UW-Superior used a five-point run to go up 8-4. Northwestern answered with a six-point run to take the lead back up 10-8. The Yellowjackets went on to go up 14-12 before a pair of UNW points tied the match at 14-14. A 5-2 run then gave UW-Superior a 19-16 lead late in the set, but the Eagles responded with a five-point run to take the lead back again up 21-19. The two teams traded points to reach 23-22 with UNW up. Just two points away from clinching the championship, Ana Egge fired a kill to reach match point for the Eagles up 24-22. Glanzer proceeded to land one final kill to take the set 25-22, the match 3-0, and secure the tournament title.
Glanzer was named the UMAC Tournament MVP. In the championship match, the senior led Northwestern with 15 kills on .220 hitting, three service aces, and 12 digs.
With the UMAC Tournament victory, Northwestern has earned the UMAC’s automatic bid and will advance to compete in the NCAA DIII Tournament.