Ashland, Wis., Sept. 28, 2007 – With the best overall record of any Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) team, the Northwestern College volleyball squad entered the first of a two day conference weekend with motivation. The Eagles jumped on last year's conference champion in Martin Luther – who they were the runners up to in 2007 – before continuing their momentum with another win over Bethany Lutheran. Both matches took only three games for NWC to overtake their opponents.
Losing key players form last year's campaign, Martin Luther had yet to win a match in 2007, entering the weekend with an 0-10 record. The Eagles extended their losing streak to 11 in three games, defeating the Knights 30-24, 30-25, 30-26.
Northwestern started their day on a hot note with a .280 attacking percentage and 15 more kills than the Knights. The Eagles had a trio in double-digit kills, including Kathryne Engel (Wayzata, Minn./West Lutheran) (Wayzata, Minn./West Lutheran) (14), Steph Koth (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) (13) and Sarah Whitmore (Prior Lake, MN/Prior Lake Christian) (Prior Lake, Minn/Prior Lake) (10). Whitmore had her best offensive game this season, hitting .471 from the middle blocker position.
Running their 6-2 offense smoothly, NWC was guided by setters Leah Kostek (West Des Moines, Iowa/Des Moines Christian ) (West Des Moines, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) and Hillary Slagter (Prinsburg, Minn./Central Minnesota Christian) (Prinsburg, Minn./Central Minnesota Christian), who tallied 24 and 19 assists apiece.
Koth was Northwestern's digs leader with 13.
Martin Luther had two players reach double figures to boost their kill total to 39, but their .132 attacking percentage couldn't keep up with NWC.
Moving on to their second contest of the day, Northwestern once again made quick work of their opponent, taking Bethany Lutheran in straight sets (30-28, 30-27, 30-28). Although the Eagles weren't on fire as much as their first match, their first game attacking percentage of .356 (20 kills in 45 attempts) was enough to keep the match margin at .264.
The usual suspects in Engel and Koth were joined by outside hitter Elissa Sandstrom (Cloquet, Minn./Carlton) (Cloquet, Minn./Carleton) to lead NWC in kills. Engel and Koth each recorded 12, while Sandstrom converted 11 kills in 19 attempts in the win.
Kostek and Slagter once again set the offense nicely, contributing 19 and 18 assists, respectively. Koth was no surprise in the digs column, leading the Eagles with 12.
Bethany Lutheran's Eva Voss and Leslie Bremer had 15 and 14 kills, respectively, and Joelle Shouts had 41 assists, but the Vikings were never able to equal Northwestern in each game's final score.
Northwestern rises above .500 with their two wins from Friday, moving to 10-9 (2-0 UMAC) on the season. The Eagles will play two more matches in Ashland on Saturday, facing off against Presentation and Minnesota-Morris in 12 p.m. and 4 p.m. matches.
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