ST BONIFACIUS, Minn. – The Northland College Volleyball team won its first Upper Midwest Athletic Conference match against Crown College 3-0 (25-10, 25-11, 25-18), Saturday afternoon at St. Bonifacius, Minn. The Jills had their best-hitting match of the season converting on 23.7% of their attacks.
 
Starting the match NC and CC traded points until the 4-4 mark. After that, the Jills went on their first of many runs. Northland went on a five-point run, capped off with a service ace from Annika Herlevi to go up 9-4. After a few more traded points, the Jills scored nine unanswered points with three points coming from Shelby Justman. Justman ended the first set with another kill ending set one 25-10 in favor of the Jills.
 
Set two went similar to the first with a few traded points before the Jills roared ahead with a big run. This time to pull in front Northland scored six in a row, four from Justman. To end the second set the LumberJills score 12 points consecutively, winning 25-11. In the 12 points, Bailey Wynn was a part of six, with five kills and a solo block.
 
The final set was neck and neck for the majority of play. The Jills put on two runs, a series of four points to go up 9-5, followed by a three-point run to give them their largest lead at seven. The Polars started to climb back pulling within six before a kill for Justman put away the match at 25-18.
 
Justman had her best match of the season with 15 kills scoring on .438 of her attacks and only had one attack error. Also reaching the double-figure mark was Wynn with her second-best game with 13 kills. Setting up the LumberJills' attack was Megan Van Gheem with 37 assists. From the serve, Northland scored three points.
 
Defensively, Alexa Zarda tallied a game-high 26 digs to lead both teams. Right behind her was Van Gheem recording a season-high 20. The Jills had four solo blocks in the match, two by Elizabeth Montgomery and Wynn and Madi Owens had one.
 
The Jills return to the court this weekend with a pair of matches. Northland starts the weekend on Friday with North Central University at 7 p.m., followed by the University of Northwestern on Saturday at 1 p.m.
 
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.