ST. PAUL, Minn. - For the fifth year in a row, Minnesota Morris met Northwestern in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) championship match Saturday in St. Paul. The Cougars fought the Eagles hard for three sets, but it was Northwestern who came away with the victory (26-24, 25-20, 25-23) to claim their sixth straight UMAC tournament crown.

The first set was an entertaining affair that saw four lead changes and 13 ties. UMM fell behind 8-4, but answered with a 4-0 spurt to tie it at 8. They later went up 15-12 following back-to-back kills from Mia Frick. After UNW tied it at 16, kills from Frick and Bekah Morris gave UMM an 18-16 edge. Another Morris kills kept the lead at 2 at 20-18. Northwestern scored four of the next five points to take a 22-21 lead. Later down 24-23, a Marissa Ekness kill tied it at 24, but the Eagles took the next two points to claim the set.

The third set was a lot like the first with 15 ties and the lead changing hands four times. The Cougars fell behind 18-15, but fought back to take a 21-20 lead following an Ekness kill. Later tied at 23, Northwestern closed out the set and the match with back-to-back kills.

Ekness led the Cougars with 18 kills. Frick added nine and Rachel Mathias smashed eight. Layne Herrmann totaled 36 assists. Katie Reitsma led with 17 digs and Morris added 12.

Minnesota Morris has a 26-8 overall record. They now sit and wait to see if they will be named as an at-large team to the NCAA Tournament. You can find out by watching the NCAA Selection Show Monday at 11:30 a.m. on ncaa.com.