ST. BONIFACIUS, Minn. – The Northland College Volleyball team defeats Crown College 3-1 (25-18, 25-11, 14-25, 25-21) in Upper Midwest Athletic Conference play Friday night in St. Bonifacius, Minn. Junior Leah Allan and sophomore Britta Josephson recorded double-doubles in the victory.
 
"I am very proud of all the girls for all their hard work and never giving up," said Head Coach Hope Neargarder after Northland's first win of the season. "This is a big win for the team and program- and they deserve it!"
 
The opening set started with points traded early. Allan had two of the first four points. The Polars built up a 10-7 lead but that did not last long. The LumberJills scored four points in a row to retake the lead with Lily Zapp and Josephson recording kills in the rally. Northland went on another run, this time three points, to go up 18-13. Josephson got the team to set point and Allan scored the 25^th for Northland first set win.
 
Set two started the same with both teams trading off the early points. Crown had a three-point lead but Northland went on a 9-to-2 run with kills from Kennedy Gruhlke and Josephson and was capped with a Josephson service ace. The Jills expanded their lead to eight after five unanswered including a Hannah Fisher service ace. Allan closed out the second set with three straight service aces to lead NC to a 25-11 victory.
 
The Polars took an early lead in set three going up four in in the first 12 points. Northland cut the lead to two after a pair of attack errors by CC, but a 9-to-1 run by the Polars gave them their largest lead of the match at 10. The Jills tried to rally late but dropped set three 14-25.
 
Kodie Rempp started set four with her first kill of the match. Northland built off the first point by scoring the next three. The Polars cut the four-point advantage to one. NC started to pull away with a three-point rally to go up 14-8. Crown kept close to Northland with the next three points. Allan scored on back-to-back points to get the lead back to five. The LumberJills kept their lead down the stretch as they would score a point then Crown would score the next two. Northland held on to the lead and took the final set 25-21.
 
Josephson and Allan both set season-high in kills to lead the Northland attack with 19 and 15 respectively. Rempp and Zapp chipped in two kills and Gruhlke had the other one. Rempp set up a career-high 31 points. Fisher had two assists and Gruhlke, Hannah Peel, and Anna Campbell had one to add to Northland's season-high 36 assists. The Jills also set a new season high with eight service aces. Allan recorded four, Josephson had three and Fisher had one.
 
Defensively, four student-athletes tallied double-digit digs. Josephson led the team with a career-high 27. Also reaching double figures were Allan (18), Gruhlke (17), and Peel (13). At the net Northland recorded four blocks, all solo, from Ellison DeZwarte with three and Allan with one.
 
Northland continues the road trip to the University of Minnesota Morris for an 11 a.m., start on Saturday.
 
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.