Northwestern (Minn.) Rallies Past Johns Hopkins in NCAA Quarterfinals

Release courtesy of Johns Hopkins Athletic Communications

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The fourth-ranked Northwestern (Minn.) volleyball team rallied from a two-set deficit to knock off Johns Hopkins, 3-2, in the NCAA Quarterfinals at UMPC Cooper Field House Wednesday evening.  The Blue Jays end the season at 24-8, while the Eagles (34-2) advance to the NCAA Semifinals, where they will face the winner of the Juniata-Hope match.
 
After the first four sets solved nothing, the teams went to a winner-take-all fifth set that came down to the end.  The fifth was tight throughout with the teams splitting the first 14 points evenly before the Eagles pushed out to a 10-7 lead on a pair of Blue Jay attacking errors and a Kendra Hardy kill.  Back-to-back Simone Adam kills trimmed the deficit to 10-9, but a Marley Aune kill, an attacking error and a service ace gave the Eagles a 13-9 lead.

The Blue Jays had one final push as they scored four of the next five points with Adam collecting two more kills to help pull JHU within one at 14-13, but Hardy finished things off when she dipped one over the net that found the floor in the middle of two Blue Jays to propel the Eagles into Thursday night’s semifinals.
 
In an opening set they never trailed, the Blue Jays sprinted out to an early 8-1 lead with the last six of those points coming off the serve of sophomore Roxy Karrer.  A Karrer ace and kills from Adam, Simrin Carlsen and Brooklyn Pater highlighted the run.  The Eagles pulled within two on three occasions, the last time coming at 16-14, but a four-point run that included a pair of Alice Yu kills gave the Blue Jays a 20-14 lead and Yu polished it off with two more kills to give the Jays a one-set lead.
 
The second set saw the teams battle nearly evenly for the first 19 points with the Blue Jays calling timeout after a 10-5 lead had been trimmed to 10-9.  Out of the timeout, the Blue Jays promptly used an 8-2 run to turn the one-point lead into an 18-11 advantage with Yu carrying much of the load the during the spree as she ignited the run with a kill and added three service aces.  The Eagles got as close as three at 20-17, but two late Yu kills along with strikes from Carlsen and Adam put the Blue Jays on the brink.
 
Northwestern trimmed the deficit to 2-1 with a decisive 25-14 win in set three.  The Blue Jays led 10-6 early, but an 8-0 run turned the four-deficit into a four-point lead for the Eagles that Hopkins was never able to challenge down…