ST. PAUL, Minn. – Minnesota Morris (19-11, 6-1 UMAC) could not slow down the Northwestern Eagles (23-8, 7-0 UMAC) on Wednesday night falling in straight sets 25-17, 25-18, 25-19. The Cougars were only able to hit .059 on the night and now fall to 1-10 when failing to hit at least .200 in a match this season.
 
The result means that Northwestern will be the number one seed in the UMAC Tournament and the Cougars will be seeded number two. The Cougars can win a share of the UMAC Regular Season Championship if they would beat Northland and the Eagles would fall to Martin Luther this weekend.
 
Cori Becker was the lone Cougar in double figures offensively; she had 10 kills and a .269 attack percentage. Brook Decker was held to just 25 assists, her fourth lowest total of the regular season. The Cougars did rack up 63 digs, the second most this season in a three set match. Four Cougars finished the match with double digit digs, led by Katie Reitsma who had 15. Decker added 13 and Abby Tietz and Marissa Ekness each added 10.
 
Northwestern was able to force the Cougars into 24 attack errors on the evening. The nine blocks by the Eagles were a big part of the reason Morris struggled to terminate offensively. Northwestern was able to hit .220 on the night.
 
The first set was tight early but the Eagles scored five straight to take a 12-7 lead and never really looked back. A six point rally pushed their lead to 23-13 and despite a late march by UMM, the Eagles won the set 25-17.
 
The Eagles jumped out 6-2 in the second set but Morris did not let them run away immediately. Unfortunately a four point steak pushed the UNW lead to 15-8. Northwestern would go on to win 25-18 in the set.
 
UNW sprinted to a 9-3 lead in the third set but Morris dug into to pull within two at 11-9. Regrettably it would be as close as UMM could get. The Eagles pushed their lead to eight at 19-11 before holding on for a 25-19 win.
 
On Friday the Cougars will host Northland at 7 p.m. Prior to the match the Cougars will honor seniors Abby Tietz, Cori Becker, Brooke Decker and Taylor Nordby.