Box Score

St. Paul, Minn., Sept. 5, 2007 – What started on a good note for the Northwestern College volleyball team versus St. Catherine on Wednesday night didn't turn out so good in the end, as the Eagles dropped the final three games to give the Wildcats a 3-2 win (24-30, 17-30, 30-27, 30-25, 15-11). St. Kate's had hit 0% after the first two games, but revived their offense in combination with costly Northwestern mistakes to steal the match victory.

Northwestern began the night hot, running out of the gates with a 10-5 lead early in Game 1. Soon thereafter, St. Kate's caught momentum though, tying the game at 14-14 before the Eagles eventually took yet another five-point lead and carried it through to the end, winning the initial segment 30-24.

The evening's second game seemed to start just like the first, with Northwestern feeding off their Game 1 win and clobbering the Wildcats after another mid-game tie. At one point, the Eagles made a ten-point run, going from being down 14-11 to holding a 21-14 lead. A couple kills later, Northwestern took the game on a 30-17 account.

Fans in attendance were either going home early or staying rather late based on Game 3's results, as it was a nail-biter all the way to the finish. After St. Kate's maintained a five- to six-point cushion mid-way through the game, Northwestern rallied back from a seven-point deficit to knot the score at 27-27, putting the game, and the match's result in limbo. After kills by the Wildcats' Alissa Domeier and Whitney Sparby, it was downhill for NWC from there as St. Kate's held on for a 30-17 win.

Hoping to regroup, Northwestern started the fourth game with a 9-5 lead, only to see the score tied at 12-12 a few minutes later. The Eagles once again regained a five-point lead at 20-15, but eventually yielded to St. Kate's at 21-21, and the Wildcats stormed their way to the end of Game 4 and the beginning of a decisive Game 5 with a 30-25 game win.

Continuing an evening of back-and-forth runs, the fifth contest was no different, providing celebration and/or discontent for a dramatic finish. Northwestern struggled early, as St. Kate's jumped out to an 8-3 lead. The Eagles sought a comeback though, putting together a 4-1 run to close the gap at 11-13; but their effort wasn't enough, as the Wildcats' Rebeca Zenefski, a Bemidji State transfer, ended the match with an ace to seal the deal at 15-11.

Following the match, Northwestern led in every statistical category, but the Wildcats' timely hitting and NWC's even costlier mistakes gave St. Kate's the final decision.
Niether team hit well all night - as mentioned previously, St. Kate's finally regained a positive hitting percentage in the third game, on their way to an overall hitting percentage of .080. The Eagles countered with a .095 hitting percentage and 57 kills – two more than the Wildcats total. Northwestern held a strong lead in blocking until the fifth game, and yet, the Eagles still owned a 15-10 team blocking advantage.

Northwestern was led by its usual one-two punch in Kathryne Engel (Wayzata, Minn./West Lutheran) (Wayzata, Minn./West Lutheran) and Steph Koth (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing). Junior Laura Bicket (Zion, Ill./Zion-Benton Township) (Zion, Ill./Zion Benton Township) also made a her presence known, leading the team with a .450 attacking percentage to go with her ten kills. For the season, Bicket is tops on the squad with a .315 success rate.

Koth and Engel were one dig apart, tallying 22 and 21 digs, respectively, to lead a team that totaled 98 for the match. Sarah Whitmore (Prior Lake, MN/Prior Lake Christian) (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake Christian) was strong in her “usual” category as well, recording eight blocks (two solo, six assisted) in addition to her five kills. Hillary Slagter (Prinsburg, Minn./Central Minnesota Christian) (Prinsburg, Minn./Central Minnesota Christian) and Leah Kostek (West Des Moines, Iowa/Des Moines Christian ) (West Des Moines, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) had 27 and 22 assists for the Eagles.

St. Kate's (3-2) was led offensively by Maria Hoffman and Lana Brand, who had 13 and 12 kills apiece. Nicole Neumann also recorded 28 digs in the contest.

Northwestern, now 2-3 in 2007, will take a couple days off before going into tournament mode again, this time for a weekend hosted by Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Minn. The Eagles will face the Auggies first for a 2 p.m. matinee on Friday, followed by a bout with Lawrence University at 6 p.m.