St. Paul, Minn., Oct. 12, 2007 - The Northwestern College volleyball team started their second cycle through conference opponents on the right foot, defeating the University of Minnesota-Morris to win their ninth straight match and their tenth win in 11 contests. The Eagles fought through Morris' early offensive push to win 30-25, 30-26, 30-18.

Morris, who was upset by Presentation College on Wednesday evening, came out with a passion, hoping to avenge their last loss by defeating the top-ranked team in the conference in Northwestern. The Eagles wouldn't the Cougars' motivation take over though, as becoming-expected performances by Steph Koth (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) and Kathryne Engel (Wayzata, Minn./West Lutheran) (Wayzata, Minn./West Lutheran) throttled the Eagles all night.

Koth had 16 kills in the match, while Engel followed with 14. Both players hit over .350 for the night to pace a team that hit .267 overall, which was double their opponents' attacking percentage. Sarah Whitmore (Prior Lake, MN/Prior Lake Christian) (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake Christian) also had nine kills in the win.

Northwestern owned a 58-36 kill advantage overall for the evening.

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) were smooth from the setter position, tallying 26 and 23 assists, respectively.

Ashley Filipi (Fertile, MN/Ada-Borup High School) (Fertile, Minn./Ada-Borup) was the Eagles' digs leader, recording 22.

Brianna Czer was led theCougars' offense, accounting for 10 of Morris' 36 kills and a personal .417 attacking percentage.

Northwestern (16-9, 8-0 UMAC) will hit the court again in less than 24 hours, when they host Presentation for a Parents Day match at 1 p.m. in the Ericksen Center.

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