ASHLAND, Wis.- Crown Volleyball's Head Coach Celia Blattner is in her second season at the helm of the Polars Volleyball program and Saturday marked a milestone day for Coach Blattner and her team. The Polars defeated the Northland College Lumberjills 3-0 for their first UMAC victory of the season. The conference win ends a long drought as the Polars hadn't won a UMAC contest since 2019. The victory pulls Crown to the .500 mark at 5-5 in 2024.
 
The Polars fell down 2-0 in the first set on the road on Saturday before rattling off three straight points to jump out in front. The visitors continued to gain momentum in the early stages of the set and saw their lead grow to 16-6. The Lumberjills were able to form a small rally and drew within six, trailing the Polars 21-15. Sydney Cotton had a kill followed by three straight Lumberjill attacking errors and the Polars scored four straight points to win the first set, 25-15.
 
The second set followed a very similar script. Once again, Crown ambushed Northland and got out to a big lead early in the set. This time, Crown's advantage was 10-2. In keeping with the script, Northland once again tried to rally and cut Crown's lead to 16-12. Crown used five consecutive points to sprint to the finish line and win set two 25-16. 
 
The third and final set was the closest of the trio. This time, Northland took an early lead, 7-4. Later in the set, trailing 9-7, the Polars scored three consecutive points to jump in front, 10-9. The two teams continued to exchange blows and the Lumberjills led 21-19 and were looking to avoid the sweep. However, Crown had their first conference victory in nearly five years in their sights and they were not going to be denied. The Polars scored six of the set's final seven points and stole the third and final set, 25-22. The Polars swept the Lumberjills 3-0.
 
Emma Bottelberghe had 12 kills to lead the Polars and Sydney Cotton added 10 kills. Brooke Rummel had 28 assists. Ellie Fuller had three serving aces and Cotton had two. 
 
The Polars will look to ride their UMAC momentum into a home matchup with Martin Luther on Friday, October 4th. 
  Read Full Article