Volleyball splits matches at Crown Tri

Northwestern-Crown Box Score
Northwestern-Augsburg Box Score

ST. BONIFACIUS, Minn. -- The Northwestern College volleyball team had its ten-match winning streak snapped, but kept its string of now-22 consecutive UMAC victories alive in a triangular with Augsburg and Crown Colleges. The Eagles pounded Crown 3-0 before losing a heartbreaker to the Auggies in five sets.

Against Crown, NWC posted a .240 team attacking percentage en route to 25-12, 25-13, 25-22 wins. The Eagles nearly doubled the Storm's 22 kills in the match with 41 of their own. Chelsea Koth (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) had 13 kills to lead all players, while Greta King (Willmar, Minn./Willmar) (Willmar, Minn./Willmar) added nine kills and a .438 hitting percentage.

UMAC Setter of the Week 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 32 assists while King had a match-high 11 digs. Northwestern, the UMAC's only undefeated team in conference play, recorded six blocks in the match. Elissa Sandstrom (Cloquet, Minn./Carlton) (Cloquet, Minn./Carlton) and Koth each had their hands in three of those blocks.

Naomi Anderson had six kills for Crown, who slipped to 4-17 (0-7 UMAC) with the loss.

The Eagles' loss (23-25, 21-25, 25-18, 27-25, 7-15) to Augsburg was a disappointment, given that NWC had defeated the Minneapolis school 3-0 on Sept. 19. After trailing 2-0, Northwestern won Sets 3 and 4 to force a 15-point fifth set. Augsburg's 11 kills in the set combined with the Eagles .000 attacking percentage resulted in an easy 15-7 for the Auggies. Northwestern struggled on defense along with passing, which was evidenced by an Augsburg advantage in digs and blocks.

Slagter, Koth and Sandstrom all had double-digit kills for NWC, while Augsburg had four players record 10 or more kills. Slagter and Kostek both had 28 assists for the Eagles while Kelsey Korporal (Sumner, Iowa/Sumner-Fredericksburg) (Sumner, Iowa/Sumner-Fredricksburg) had 25 digs.

Northwestern moves to 13-8 overall and 7-0 in UMAC play after the day's two matches. The Eagles will return home to the Ericksen Center for matches on back-to-back days against Presentation College and the University of Minnesota, Morris. NWC will play Presentation on Thursday night in a rare 8 p.m. start before Friday's match begins at 7 p.m.

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Volleyball splits matches at Crown Tri