SIOUX CITY, Iowa – The Marian volleyball team made program history on Tuesday night, as the Knights played late into the evening to pull off a historic 3-0 sweep of No. 8 Northwestern at the NAIA National Championship. Marian won their first ever match at the National Championship final site, starting the 2018 tournament 1-0 in Pool Play H. Marian is 30-5 overall this season.
Marian started their 2018 National Tournament on a strong note, going on a 4-0 run to begin the match as Anne Strevels and Hannah Trout scored the first point of the match with a block. Maddie Keerns dished up a service ace and a pair of hitting errors by Northwestern helped fuel the early run. Northwestern didn’t flinch after getting in a quick hole, coming back and taking the lead in the match as they went on an 8-2 run to take over a two point lead. The game continued to go back and forth with teams scoring points in pairs, but Northwestern continued to have the upper hand as they grew a 14-10 lead to make Marian use their first timeout of the match.
Coming out of the timeout, Marian responded with a big run of their own, as a kill from both Strevels and Trout and a service ace from Olivia Gillum capped an 8-3 run to put the Knights on top 18-17, making the Red Raiders burn a timeout. The Knights stayed in control coming out of the timeout, as a Sarah Clem and Strevels kill helped keep push the lead to 21-19. Northwestern mounted a come back and captured the lead at 23-21, pushing that to 24-22 following an exchange of points. An attack error and a Clem solo block tied the game to make Northwestern take their final timeout. Marian came out strong out of the break, finishing the set on a 4-0 run as Maggie Meyer delivered a service ace and Trout capped it with a kill to give the Knights a 1-0 lead, winning the first 26-24.
The Knights hitters got the second set going on a positive note, as Trout and Strevels each picked up a kill to help Marian build a 9-4 lead. Coming out of a Northwestern timeout, Marian kept the momentum going as Sarah Spangler and Strevels each picked up a pair of kills to grow the lead to 15-10. The Red Raiders worked their way back into the set for a breif moment, getting within two points but a Spangler kill and Megan Hawley service ace helped push Marian’s lead back to four. After Northwestern used their final timeout to try to halt a Marian run, the Knights continued to flex their muscles scoring six of the final nine points. A Kalyn Schreiber solo block and two errors gave Marian the final three points, as they won the second set 25-18 to take a 2-0 lead.
Trout took over to start the final set, starting strong with three kills on the first four rallies to help Marian take a 3-1 lead to start the third. Clem and Spangler each picked up kills as the Knights started the third on an 8-3 run, making Northwestern use an early timeout. Gillum picked up a service ace out of the timeout to make the lead six, but the Red Raiders clawed back within two points trailing Marian 10-8. Northwestern again got within two points at 13-11, but Marian again took off going on a 4-1 run as Trout nailed a pair of kills to make the local team use their final timeout.
The closest Northwestern would get the rest of the match was within three points, but Marian exploded and cashed in multiple errors as Spangler delivered a kill to put the Knights up 20-14. Skyler Van Note ended a two-point spurt from Northwestern, starting a 5-0 run to end the match for the Knights. Hawley notched another service ace in the final run, as Marian ended the 3-0 sweep on a Red Raider attack error to take the final set 25-16.
Trout had a phenomenal game hitting, posting a .526 hitting percentage as she nailed a game high 11 kills. Spangler had eight kills in the match while Van Note had seven. Heffron had 15 assists and a service ace, while Lexi Spence had 13 assists. Hawley had a team high nine digs in the match, giving her 650 digs on the season. The magic number of digs moved Hawley ahead of former Marian libero Vanessa Lay, as she set the single season digs record in the win. Hawley and Gillum each had two aces.
Marian will play late again on Wednesday night as they take on Rocky Mountain for their second game of pool play. The Knights and Battlin’ Bears first serve is scheduled for 9 PM ET.