MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris volleyball team came up short on Friday night in a tussle with nationally-ranked No. 3 University of Northwestern, falling to the Eagles in three sets (17-25, 17-25, 22-25). The win for UNW locks up the regular season title and locks Minnesota Morris into the No. 2 seed in next week's UMAC Tournament as the Cougars drop to 19-7 (11-2 UMAC) on the year.

Despite the loss for Minnesota Morris, each set was a fight. The opening set saw the Cougars burst out of the gates and grab a 4-1 lead to rile up the large crowd. UMN Morris would later score five of six points to turn a 7-5 deficit into a 10-8 edge, with a kill from Tori Scheler and an ace from the freshman bookending the run. Northwestern turned on the jets after that, scoring 10 of the next 11 points to build an 18-11 lead, never letting the Cougars get closer than six the rest of the way.

The second set was once again a battle, with Minnesota Morris at point scoring three in a row to grab a 13-8 advantage. The lead was still 15-12 when Northwestern scored four straight to go ahead by a point. A service error tied the score at 16-16, but nine of the next 10 points went to the Eagles after that as they locked up a 2-0 lead on the night.

Minnesota Morris actually outhit Northwestern in the third set, but errors in the service game doomed the Cougars in a close finish. UMN Morris built a three-point lead on the Eagles on six occasions in the set and had the lead grow to 15-11 on a Northwestern attacking error. As it had in the first two sets, the UNW rally came quickly. The Eagles had things locked up by 17-17 and the final tie came at 20-20 on a solo block from Maggie Jones. An error on serve gave the lead back to Northwestern and the visitors built their advantage to 23-20, holding on from there despite a pair of late kills from Laura Wellbrock to try to keep the Cougars in it.

Lydia Nash finished with a team-high seven kills, while Wellbrock and Lacie O'Leary each added six. McKenzie Newton notched 23 assists along with eight digs. Ava Brunn collected 16 digs on the night, with Sydney Eckhoff adding eight more.

The regular season concludes tomorrow with Senior Day for the Cougars, facing North Central University beginning at 1 p.m. from James Gremmels Court.