UWS Women Sweep Northland

NSO NEWS RELEASE

Freshman Lexi Oeltjen (Lake Elmo, Minn./Stillwater Area) tallied a match-high 10 kills and sophomore Hannah Goggleye (Calumet, Minn./Greenway) added seven to lead the UW-Superior volleyball team to a 3-0 sweep of Northland at the Kendrigan Center Tuesday.

UWS improved to 3-1 in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference, winning by set scores of 25-16, 25-16 and 25-11 in just 53 minutes.

The ‘Jackets (9-12) limited Northland (6-12, 0-3) to a -.053 attack percentage with just 17 kills and 22 errors in 95 attempts. UWS totaled 32 kills, 49 digs and six service aces for the match.

Senior Brylee Colligan (Bemidji, Minn./Bemidji) and freshman Payton Scherber (St. Michael, Minn./St. Michael-Albertville Senior) chipped in with 12 and 10 digs, respectively, to pace the defensive effort. Gina Baertsch (Farmington, Minn./Farmington Area) (17 assists) and Megan Holz (Savage, Minn./Burnsville) had 27 of Superior’s 33 assists on the night.

UWS never trailed in the first set, building a 15-9 advantage on a block by Cassy Teff (Foley, Minn./Foley) and Cami Sletta (Willmar, Minn./Willmar Senior). The lead grew to 20-11 on Goggleye kill from Baertsch, the last of a five-point run.

Colligan put her team up, 1-0, in the match with a kill assisted by Holz.

The ‘Jackets led by as many as 10 of three occasions in the middle stanza – 21-11, 22-12 and 23-13 – on their way to a two-set lead.

After a back-and-forth start to third set, UWS took control with six consecutive points for a 9-3 edge on two Goggleye kills, a block, two errors and a Holz ace.

After a UWS error, the ‘Jackets posted five more points for a 15-4 edge. Superior coasted from there, closing the match with an Oeltjen kill from Baertsch.

Bailey Wynn had five kills and 12 digs to lead Northland in loss.

UWS returns to action Friday and Saturday at the Marty Petersen Invitational at UW-Oshkosh. The ‘Jackets will face St. Norbert (5:30 p.m.) and Finlandia (7:30) Friday.