ST. PAUL, Minn. — Lawrence University volleyball bounced back from a narrow opening-set loss Saturday morning to take down the University of Northwestern-St. Paul in four sets at the Ericksen Center.
The Vikings earned the 3-1 victory by scores of 25-27, 25-22, 25-10 and 25-18, improving to 3-1 on the season.
The opening set was a back-and-forth battle that featured 11 ties. Lawrence fought off set point to even the score at 25-25, but Northwestern scored the final two points to escape with a 27-25 win.
Lawrence answered immediately in the second set. With the score tied at 20-20 late, the Vikings closed on a 5-2 run, highlighted by a kill from Norma Glisczinski and a service ace from Hallie Neill, to even the match with a 25-22 victory.
The Vikings took complete control in the third. Lawrence jumped in front early and never looked back, building a double-digit advantage before cruising to a 25-10 win. The Vikings hit .321 in the set while holding Northwestern to a negative hitting percentage.
Lawrence carried that momentum into the fourth set and closed out the match 25-18. The Vikings hit a match-best .382 in the final frame and finished the afternoon at .262 as a team with 52 kills. Lawrence also piled up 14 service aces and 58 digs.
Bella Van Lannen powered the Lawrence attack with a match-high 22 kills while hitting .364. She also added two service aces and two blocks. Emma Nilson was nearly flawless offensively, putting down eight kills without an error on 14 attempts for a .571 hitting percentage, while Glisczinski added 10 kills.
Neill filled the stat sheet with 17 assists, 11 digs and four aces, while Ally Corrente handed out a team-high 19 assists and added two aces.
Lawrence finished the match with 73 total points and steadily improved offensively as the match progressed, hitting .233 in the second set, .321 in the third and .382 in the fourth.
