St. Thomas, Central hand NWC losses at Augsburg Tournament

NWC-St. Thomas Box Score
NWC-Central Box Score

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Northwestern College volleyball team struggled in its first day of competition at a weekend tournament hosted by Augsburg College, losing to the 15th-ranked University of St. Thomas 3-0 and Central College 3-2.

Against St. Thomas, Northwestern maintained a .159 attacking percentage, but the Tommies nearly doubled the Eagles up at .293 as the nationally ranked team won 25-19, 25-22, 25-14. Elissa Sandstrom (Cloquet, Minn./Carlton) (Cloquet, Minn./Carlton) had a team-high 10 kills for the Eagles while Leah Kostek (West Des Moines, Iowa/Des Moines Christian ) (West Des Moines, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) had 24 of NWC's 35 assists in the match.

Things have continued to get better for Northwestern throughout the early weeks of the 2010 season, which was evidenced by statistics such as the team's attacking percentage and blocks, of which the Eagles tallied 6.5 to St. Thomas's 8.5. Chelsea Koth (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) followed Sandstrom with nine kills, while Greta King (Willmar, Minn./Willmar) (Willmar, Minn./Willmar) chipped in eight kills on 32 attempts.

St. Thomas was led by Katie Bonine, who tallied a whopping 18 kills in three sets to go with a .469 attacking percentage.

Against Central, the Eagles gave the Dutch everything they could handle until the final point as Northwestern's opponent won the decisive fifth set 18-16. After losing the first two sets 25-16 and 25-19, the Eagles rallied to take Sets 3 and 4 by 25-15 and 25-22 scores.

King, Koth and Sandstrom were up to their usual offensive productivity in the match, tallying 18, 15 and 13 kills, respectively while the Eagles hit .169 as a team. Leah Kostek (West Des Moines, Iowa/Des Moines Christian ) lasted for 53 assists in the five sets while also earning 15 digs. Kelsey Korporal (Sumner, Iowa/Sumner-Fredericksburg) (Sumner, Iowa/Sumner-Fredericksburg) seemed to be all over the court as she led the team with 22 digs in the match.

The Eagles head into the tournament's second day looking for a couple victories. NWC, who currently stands at 2-6 in 2010, will face Macalester College and a team to be named on Saturday.

Print Friendly Version