Eagles complete sweep of UMAC schedule

MORRIS, Minn. (Nov. 1, 2008) – The University of Minnesota, Morris came about as close as it could to ruining Northwestern's perfect UMAC season on Saturday, but the Eagles escaped Morris with a 3-2 win after claiming the fifth set 19-17.

After losing the initial set 26-24, Northwestern won Sets 2 and 3 in commanding fashion. The Cougars battled back to take the fourth set though, setting up for a nail-biting fifth and final set that ended with the Eagles on top.

Northwestern hit .249 in the match behind the arm of Kathryne Engel (Wayzata, Minn./West Lutheran) (Wayzata, Minn./West Lutheran), who had a career-high 27 kills and a .310 personal attacking percentage. Sarah Whitmore (Prior Lake, MN/Prior Lake Christian) (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake Christian) and Steph Koth (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) added 11 and 10 kills apiece, as the Eagles posted a 68-46 advantage over UMM.

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) combined for 55 assists in the match, while Koth had a match-high 28 digs. Danielle Rhodes (Iowa City, Iowa/City) (Iowa City, Iowa/City) added 20 digs for NWC.

Laura Bicket (Zion, Ill./Zion-Benton Township) (Zion, Ill./Zion-Benton Township) had a part of seven blocks, while Whitmore had six as the Eagles tallied 12.5 blocks as a team.

Briana Czer had 17 kills for Morris, while Alison Pippo added 12.

Northwestern, now a perfect 14-0 in conference play and 24-5 overall, will head into the UMAC conference tournament as the No. 1 seed. The Eagles will host fourth-seeded Martin Luther College on Tuesday night. That match will begin at 7 p.m. in the Ericksen Center.

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