Box Score

St. Paul, Minn., Sept. 1, 2007 – Although the Northwestern College volleyball team split their matches for a second straight day at the Northwestern College Classic, Head Coach Beth Wilmeth came away happy with her team for their hard efforts and their style of play. The Eagles defeated North Central University 3-1 (26-30, 30-22, 30-16, 30-19) in their morning match before falling to the College of St. Mary (Neb.) 1-3 (25-30, 22-30, 30-27, 22-30) in the tournament's third place match.

The “Regulars,” as Northwestern fans could call Steph Koth (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) and Kathryne Engel (Wayzata, Minn./West Lutheran) (Wayzata, Minn./West Lutheran) stayed consistent, leading their team with 17 and 16 kills in the match. Freshman Leah Kostek (West Des Moines, Iowa/Des Moines Christian ) (West Des Moines, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) had her best match as an Eagle thus far, tallying 37 assists in a game that everyone on Northwestern's roster was a part of.

Sarah Whitmore (Prior Lake, MN/Prior Lake Christian) was strong once again in the middle for NWC, accounting in part for six of the Eagles' eight blocks. Koth was also Northwestern's digs leader with 23 while Kostek had 14.

NWC held a strong advantage in kills, recording 61 as a team compared to North Central's 41.

The Eagles' second contest wasn't as pretty, as the College of St. Mary had four players tally double-digit kills on their way to winning the third place crown.

Koth and Engel had 16 and 10 kills, respectively for NWC, while freshman Elissa Sandstrom (Cloquet, Minn./Carlton) (Cloquet, Minn./Carlton) had an introductory party with 12 kills of her own. Upping her own personal mark from the match previous, Kostek recorded 43 assists.

The Eagles also welcomed back junior Laura Bicket (Zion, Ill./Zion-Benton Township) (Zion, Ill./ Zion-Benton Township), as she had six assisted blocks.

In a match where Northwestern was on the under side of a 72-to-54 kills comparison, the Eagles had three players in double figures, but NWC couldn't overcome the Flames' .312 hitting percentage.

In all, Coach Wilmeth's team made up of mostly freshman last year, have made an improvement so far, going 2-2 so far this season compared to an 0-4 start in 2006. The Eagles will continue their season on Wednesday, Sept. 5, when they host St. Catherine for a 7 p.m. match-up in the Ericksen Center.