ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Hamline volleyball team (1-0) got their 2021 spring season off to a good start on Tuesday night, getting a 3-0 win over North Central (2-6, 0-4 UMAC) at Hutton Arena. The Pipers served well and played solid defense, tallying 13 aces and picking up 66 digs in the win.
 
First year Julianna Boyum and junior Sydney Larson led HU offensively, each recording 10 kills in the match. Boyum hit especially efficiently in her collegiate debut, hitting .412 to lead all hitters in attack percentage.
 
Larson and senior Megan Rubbelke each ended with double-doubles for the Pipers, as Larson had 10 digs to go along with her 10 kills and Rubbelke dished out 28 assists as well as leading the team in digs with 18.
 
Hamline's serving also proved lethal, as they totaled 13 aces between the three sets. Junior Brynn Hendrickson had four of those aces to led the serving efforts and junior Gabby Robinson and Larson each chipped in with three.
 
The first set was the closest of the three, as neither team led by more than two points until an HU point put the Pipers up 21-18 late in the match. The Pipers closed out the set with four of the last six points to earn a 25-21 set win. Robinson had two kills for Hamline within those final points and sophomore Rachel Rettman claimed the final kill, helping HU get out to a 1-0 lead.
 
The second set started close, as it was tied at seven, but the Pipers scored the next three points to give themselves the lead. They would slowly pull away and would score the final five points in a row to win set two by a score of 25-15.
 
The Pipers really found their rhythm in set three, cruising to a 25-12 win to clinch the sweep. Early in the set, the Rams scored five in a row to lead 7-4, but the Pipers retaliated with seven straight points to make it 11-7 and they wouldn't look back from there, scoring 10 of the final 12 points in the set.
 
Hamline will jump right into conference play next, with an early road test against Gustavus on Wednesday, March 31. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m.