MILWAUKEE, Wis. (naccsports.org) --- The quarterfinals of the 2026 Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) Women’s Volleyball Tournament has now taken place, and it saw all four of the top seeds win and advance to the semifinals.

Top-seeded Aurora University swept Concordia University Chicago, 3-0, while second-seeded Edgewood University outlasted Concordia University Wisconsin in five sets. Elsewhere, both Lakeland University and the Milwaukee School of Engineering advanced to the semifinals with wins over Wisconsin Lutheran College and Illinois Institute of Technology, respectively.

No. 1 Aurora 3, No. 8 Concordia Chicago 0
The Spartans started their conference tournament off strong, overcoming early deficits in all three sets enroute to a sweep of the Cougars at Thornton Gymnasium in Aurora, Illinois. Aurora won the three sets 25-14, 25-16, and 25-16.

Concordia Chicago struck first in set one, scoring the first point of the match on a kill by Beatriz Goncalves. Katelyn Ruse answered with a kill for Aurora to tie the game at one, before the Cougars scored consecutive points to go ahead by two.

Aurora took the lead with four consecutive points, capping its run with a service ace by Hazel Cook. The Cougars fought back, and were able to tie the set at nine on a service ace by Jessalyn Perkins. 

Aurora then began pulling away, scoring 12 of the next 15 points. Rosie Karl recorded a kill to put Aurora ahead 21-12. Concordia responded with kills by Indiah Day and Perkins, but then Aurora scored four straight points to take the first set, with Trinity Nelson getting a service ace for the win.

CUC again scored first in the second set, as Debanhi Moreno put the Cougars in front with a kill. Aurora took advantage of a Cougars attack error to tie it up, but then Concordia Chicago scored three straight points to take a 4-1 lead.

The two sides traded points for a bit, until Aurora scored three straight to take its first lead of the set, 7-6. The two teams went back to trading points, and with the set tied at 10 apiece, Aurora scored five straight points to jump out in front.

Concordia Chicago scored four of the next five points to cut the Aurora lead to two, but then a kill by Peyton Darguzis started a 4-0 scoring run for the Spartans, putting them up 20-14. CUC scored a point to narrow the gap to five, but another four consecutive Spartan points put the set at set point.

A kill by Sophie Knazur finished off set two for the Spartans, and gave them a two sets to none lead.

CUC used a pair of attack errors by Aurora to go ahead early in the third set, before the Spartans scored four consecutive points to go ahead 5-3. Three of those points came from Cook, who had three straight service aces. 

The two teams traded points, before both sides went on separate four-point runs, with Aurora taking an 11-10 lead on a kill by Cook. Another three straight points by the Spartans put them ahead 15-12, but the Cougars managed to keep it close, not letting the Spartans pull away immediately.

Holding a 17-15 lead, the Spartans went on a scoring run, scoring six straight to take a 23-15 lead on a streak that was capped by a kill from Karl. The Cougars scored a point to stay alive, before kills from Karl and Knazur finished off the set and the match for the Spartans.

Aurora finished with 41 kills and a .337 hitting percentage, while the Cougars had 27 kills and a .082 hitting percentage.

Ruse and Karl both led the Spartans with 12 kills each, and Ruse led Aurora with five service aces. Nelson had a team-high 36 assists for the Spartans, and also led the team in blocks, with six.

Day led the Cougars with six kills, and Perkins led the Cougars with two service aces. Malainna Adler had led the Cougars with 11 assists, and Harmonie Cooper recorded three blocks for Concordia Chicago.

No. 2 Edgewood 3, No. 7 Concordia Wisconsin 2
In a back and forth match where no team won consecutive sets, Edgewood outlasted Concordia Wisconsin, defeating the Falcons in five sets at the Todd Wehr Edgedome in Madison, Wisconsin. The Eagles won sets one, three and five by scores of 25-21, 25-18, and 16-14. The Falcons won sets two and four 25-14 and 25-17.

The Eagles scored the first two points to start the match, before Concordia Wisconsin went on a five-point run that was finished off with a service ace by Emily Dickmann. 

The two sides traded points for much of the first set, before the Falcons were able to pull ahead, taking a 15-8 lead on a kill by Bailey Bonde. From there, Edgewood responded in a big way, scoring nine consecutive points to jump ahead themselves with a 17-15 lead.

Concordia Wisconsin scored a pair of points to tie it once again, and the two teams went back to trading points, until Edgewood scored three straight to again pull ahead 23-20. A point by CUW cut the Eagles lead to two, but then kills by Natalie Murphy and Nida Zukauskaite won the first set for the Eagles.

Set two saw both sides trade points for a while, until Concordia Wisconsin scored three straight to go ahead 15-10. They once again traded points from there, but then a kill by Kirsten Krause kickstarted a four-point Falcons run, putting them ahead 21-13.

Edgewood then scored a point to close the gap a little, but the Falcons responded by scoring another four straight. On set point, Brianna Stewart got a kill for CUW, ending the set and tying the match up 1-1 overall.

The Eagles bounced back in a big way in the third set, taking nine of the first ten points scored to take an early 9-1 lead over CUW. The Falcons were able to then score a few points of their own, but kills by Zukauskaite and Payton Millin again put Edgewood ahead 14-5.

After going back and forth for a few points, Concordia Wisconsin scored four straight to cut Edgewood’s lead to just four, with both Dickmann and Bonde getting kills for the Falcons. Edgewood responded with another two points, but then CUW scored another four straight, and the Eagles suddenly had a narrow 18-16 lead.

The Eagles scored three consecutive points to grow their lead back up to five, and ended up scoring seven of the final nine points to win the set. On set point, Murphy got the kill for Edgewood, putting them up two sets to one.

Set four saw the two teams trade both points and mini-runs, until CUW scored eight straight points to jump out to a 15-10 lead. Makenna Thompson had two service aces during the run for the Falcons, helping to grow their lead.

Edgewood responded by scoring a pair of points, and then the two teams went back to trading points back and forth. After an ace by Zukauskaite once again cut Concordia Wisconsin’s lead to five, the Falcons took advantage of three consecutive attack errors by the Eagles to win set four, and force a winner-take-all set five. The winner would advance to the conference semifinals, while the other team would see their season come to an end.

Concordia Wisconsin got on the board first in set five, but then two kills by Zukauskaite and one by Scarlett Simkowski put Edgewood ahead 3-1. Two straight points by the Falcons tied it up, and the two sides traded points until CUW scored three in a row to take a 9-7 lead, thanks to a pair of kills by Kaylee Hlinak and a kill by Stewart.

More point-trading followed, until the Falcons were holding a 13-11 lead, needing just two more points to win the set and the match. Edgewood answered by scoring three straight points, with a service ace by Zukauskaite putting the Eagles on match point at 14-13. 

An error by Edgewood tied the set at 14 and ensured there would be at least one extra point of volleyball, but then two errors by the Falcons punched Edgewood’s ticket to the conference semifinals.

Edgewood finished with 60 kills and a .132 hitting percentage, while Concordia Wisconsin had 51 kills and a .169 hitting percentage.

Murphy led the Eagles with 14 kills, and Abbey Eivins had a team-high three service aces. Eivins also led the team in assists with 29, and Simkowski led the Eagles with four blocks.

Concordia Wisconsin was led by Krause, who led the match with 16 kills. Madison Cimbalnik had three service aces, and Dickmann’s 36 assists also led both the team and the match. Stewart led the Falcons with seven blocks.

No. 3 Lakeland 3, No. 6 Wisconsin Lutheran College 0
Lakeland University began its conference tournament by picking up right where they left off in the regular season, sweeping their way to the semifinals by defeating Wisconsin Lutheran College at Moose and Dona Woltzen Gymnasium in Plymouth, Wisconsin. Lakeland won the three sets 25-12, 25-21, and 25-19.

Wisconsin Lutheran scored the first point of the match on a kill by Hannah Rood, but then the Muskies scored eight consecutive points to jump out to an 8-1 lead. The Warriors scored a few points to close the gap slightly, but then Lakeland scored another four straight points, as Rylee Esquibel’s kill made it a 14-3 Muskies lead.

The two teams traded two-point runs for a little bit, until Lakeland scored four out of five points, and Maleigha Kovalaske’s kill put Lakeland ahead 22-9. Some more point-trading followed but then a kill by Emily R. Hansen put the Muskies on set point, and they were able to take advantage of a WLC attack error to claim the first set.

Lakeland got off to a strong start again in the second set, as it scored the first three points of the set. A five point-run by the Muskies saw them go ahead 10-2 on a service ace by Katie Westerholm, but then the Warriors came to life. 

Several different multi-point runs by the Warriors kept the set close, and with WLC trailing 17-16, a kill by Faith Smith tied the set at 17. Wisconsin Lutheran then followed that with another three straight points, taking a 20-17 lead on a kill by Alex Emberger. 

Lakeland responded by scoring eight of the last nine points, going on two different four-point runs and taking advantage of a few errors by the Warriors to win the second set.

Both sides traded points for the first chunk of the third set, until back-to-back points by the Muskies gave them a 13-8 lead on a kill by Emily R. Hansen. WLC followed that by scoring three consecutive points of its own to cut the lead to two, but then another three straight points by the Muskies put them ahead 16-11. 

Lakeland was able to grow its lead to as much as eight, and held onto a 22-14 lead before the Warriors started to battle back like they had in the second set. They cut Lakeland’s lead to five, but a kill by Kovalaske put Lakeland on match point, and two points later, another kill by Kovalaske won both the set and the match.

Lakeland ended the match having recorded 39 kills and a .225 hitting percentage. Wisconsin Lutheran had 23 kills, and a -.019 hitting percentage. 

Kovalaske led the Muskies and the match with 16 kills, and her, Westerholm, and Emily J. Hansen all had a service ace each for Lakeland. Sydney Gay had a team-high 19 assists, and Kovalaske, Emily R. Hansen, Laura Pearson, and Samya Hughes each had a block.

Wisconsin Lutheran was led by Ireland Zyzo, who had six kills in the match. Both Alyssa Koval and Rood had two service aces in the match, and Veronica Tollakson led the Warriors in assists with eight. Emberger was the team leader in blocks, with four.

No. 4 Milwaukee School of Engineering 3, No. 5 Illinois Institute of Technology 0
The Raiders got their quest for the first conference tournament championship in school history off to a strong start, sweeping the Scarlet Hawks at Kern Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and avenging their regular-season loss to Illinois Tech in the process. MSOE won the three sets 25-20, 25-11, and 25-14.

Illinois Tech got on the scoreboard first, and the teams traded points to start the first set until the Scarlet Hawks scored four consecutive points to take a 7-4 lead, their run capped off by a service ace from Karla Trautmann Mendez. The Scarlet Hawks got their lead up to as much as five, before MSOE scored four straight to cut the lead to one. Ella Notheisen had three straight service aces for the Raiders during said run.

After Illinois Tech responded with a point, the Raiders went on another four-point run, where they once again had a player score three straight service aces. This time, it was Natalie Martinez doing the damage for MSOE as the Raiders went ahead 15-13.

The Scarlet Hawks kept the set close, but three straight Illinois Tech attack errors allowed MSOE to pull ahead 22-17, and the two teams traded points until the Raiders took advantage of a Scarlet Hawks attack error to claim the first set.

Set two was all MSOE, as the Raiders scored six of the first seven points to take an early lead. The Scarlet Hawks again kept the set close for a while, and at one point cut MSOE’s lead to just three. Holding onto an 11-8 lead, MSOE scored another three points, using kills by Sydney Emineth and Emma Schattschneider, as well as another ace by Notheisen to take a 14-8 lead.

From there, the Raiders kept on the attack, scoring 11 of the final 14 points of the set, making sure that Illinois Tech was not able to score consecutive points in the remainder of the set. Schattschneider put the Raiders on set point with a kill, and then followed that with a service ace that gave MSOE a two sets to none lead.

After the teams started the third set off by trading points, the Raiders put together a three-point run that put MSOE ahead 8-5. MSOE then scored nine of the next eleven points, and suddenly the Raiders were in possession of a 17-8 lead, just eight points away from the conference tournament semifinals.

Illinois Tech fought back, going on a four-point run of its own to narrow the gap back down to just four points, using a pair of service aces by Maya Zinkiewicz and a kill by Payton Smith to do so.

With the score sitting at 18-13, the Raiders scored six straight points, and seven of the last eight, to take the set and the match. An error by the Scarlet Hawks put MSOE at match point, but a kill by Victoria Aspurez kept Illinois Tech alive for at least another point. Ashley Murphy then finished things off with a kill, and the Raiders won their first conference tournament match in school history.

MSOE had 35 kills and a .284 hitting percentage, and IIT had 29 kills and a .111 hitting percentage.

Schattschneider led both the Raiders and the match in kills, making 15 of them. Both Martinez and Notheisen had five service aces, which also led the match. Maddie Abel led the Raiders in assists with 17, and both Brenna Fledderman and Schattschneider had two blocks.

Illinois Tech was led by Smith, who had nine kills. Zinkiewicz had a team-high two service aces, and Rowan Midgette had a match-high 19 assists. Lilia Donaldson, Aspurez, Smith, and Midgette all had one block for the Scarlet Hawks.