Ashland, Wis., Oct. 27, 2007 – After suffering their fist loss on Friday in over a month, the Northwestern College volleyball team picked up the action again on Saturday, competing in a triangular with Northland College and the University of Wisconsin-Superior. Things went well for the Eagles against conference-foe Northland, but UW-Superior held an upper hand over Northwestern in the second match of the day.

Against the LumberJills, Northwestern's offense was rolling, as four individuals amassed 10 or more kills, including Laura Bicket (Zion, Ill./Zion-Benton Township)'s (Zion, Ill./Zion-Benton Township) 19. Overall, the Eagles maintained a 73-57 kill advantage in the four-game victory, posting scores of 30-17, 30-27, 28-30 and 30-28.

Bicket's attacking rate of .472 throttled an Eagle squad that hit .216 for the match, including a .38 mark in the first game. Kathryne Engel (Wayzata, Minn./West Lutheran) (Wayzata, Minn./West Lutheran) also had a strong showing, amassing 17 kills on 54 attempts. Hillary Slagter (Prinsburg, Minn./Central Minnesota Christian) (Prinsburg, Minn./Central Minnesota Christian) and Steph Koth (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) each contributed 11 kills to Northwestern's attack.

NWC's defense was just as solid as the offense, as the Eagles tallied 105 digs – only the third time in the 2007 campaign that they've hit the century mark in digs. Engel, Koth and Leah Kostek (West Des Moines, Iowa/Des Moines Christian ) (West Des Moines, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) each had over 20 digs individually.

Sarah Hank had 18 kills for Northland, while Melissa Anderson recorded 14. Courtney Kinney tallied 43 assists for the LumberJills in the two-hour match.

Northwestern hoped to carry their momentum on to a second match versus the Yellow Jackets of UW-Superior. The Eagles took the Jackets to 29-31 in the first game, but yielded larger point differences in Games 2 and 3, giving Superior a three-game sweep.

UW-Superior didn't hit below .318 in any of the three games, as they combined for a .393 match attacking percentage. On the opposite end of the floor, Northwestern was never able to get over .200 to account for their .172 match average.

Engel and Koth were Northwestern's only players in double-digit kills, with 11 apiece. Koth was also Northwestern's strongest defensive player, recording a team-high 18 digs.

Kostek and Slagter each had 40 assists in Northwestern's 6-2 offense in the two matches.

After winning the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference championship on Wednesday, Northwestern (21-11, 13-1 UMAC) will host the conference post-season tournament next Saturday. The first-seeded Eagles will play Northland, St. Scholastica or Bethany Lutheran in the 3 p.m. match, with the winner advancing to the four-team tournament's championship match, which is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in the Ericksen Center.

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