ASHLAND, Wis. – The Northland College Volleyball team is back on the road for a pair of Upper Midwest Athletic Conference matches, starting with Martin Luther College of Friday and Bethany Lutheran College on Saturday.
 
The Jills are coming off a 1-1 weekend after defeating North Central University in four sets then falling to the fourth-ranked team in DIII University of Northwestern 0-3. In the win Bailey Wynn, Elizabeth Montgomery and Britta Josephson all finished with double-figure kills. For the third time this season Megan Van Gheem recorded 37 assists.
 
Last season the Knights took both matches over the LumberJills, winning 3-0 on the road and 3-1 at home. In the most recent match, Northland had three student-athletes reach double-digit kills, with Bailey Wynn and Shelby Justman both tallying 10. In the last eight matchups, NC and MLC have split the series 4-4 with the Jills winning their three most recent matches in five sets.
 
This season MLC is 4-12 overall and 2-2 in the UMAC. The Knights split their matches last weekend, starting with a four-set win over Crown College, then fell 3-0 to University of Minnesota, Morris Saturday. Leading the Knights' attack are juniors Lauren Paulsen and Grace Kieselhorst recording 106 and 98 kills respectively.
 
The Jills and Vikings split the series, with Northland winning the first match 3-0 then BLC won the second matchup in four sets. The first set Northland won they hit .500 on 22 total attacks. Dating back to 2019 the home team has won each match, the last time the Jills won on the road was during the 2012 season.
 
The Vikings have started similarly to the LumberJills with a 5-11 record and a 2-3 conference record. BLC picked up its first two UMAC wins last week over Crown College 3-0 and North Central 3-1. Two student-athletes from Bethany Lutheran have reached over 100 kills this season, Lexiss Trygg (160) and Kate Maag (143).  
 
Leading the LumberJills' attack is Wynn who has totaled 120 kills and has the best hitting percentage at 17.6%. Breaking into triple-figures last week was freshman Josephson, now at 101 on the season. Still leading in assists in the UMAC is Van Gheem at 364 assists on the season, averaging 8.47 assists per set.
 
Defensively, Alexa Zadra surpassed the 200 mark for digs, up to 219 on the season. Wynn is behind her at 163. Van Gheem and Annika Herlevi are also in the triple-digits in kills at 132 and 121 respectively. Montgomery paces the Jills with 18 blocks, 13 solo and five assisted.   
 
Northland College is an NCAA Division III institution located in Ashland, WI. The LumberJacks and LumberJills sponsor 14 varsity sports and compete in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference, Midwest Lacrosse Conference, and the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.