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Volleyball

St. Ben's hands NWC 3-0 loss in 2010 debut

Box Score

ST. JOSEPH, Minn. -- The Northwestern College volleyball team opened up its 2010 schedule on Wednesday with a 3-0 (20-25, 16-25, 16-25) loss to the College of Saint Benedict. The Eagles, who were playing without two potential starters due to injury, struggled to find a rhythm against a Blazers team who is amongst the best in the country.

Northwestern hit -.049 for the match, which is the first time since Sept. 11, 2009 (against St. Benedict) that the Eagles fell into negative attacking numbers. Chelsea Koth (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing), NWC's top hitter form a year ago, struggled in the three sets, tallying six kills on 29 attempts. On the other side of the court, Northwestern's Greta King (Willmar, Minn./Willmar) (Willmar, Minn./Willmar) tied a team high with six kills on 20 attempts. Elissa Sandstrom (Cloquet, Minn./Carlton) (Cloquet, Minn./Carlton) also had six kills in the match.

Leah Kostek (West Des Moines, Iowa/Des Moines Christian ) (West Des Moines, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) recorded 17 of Northwestern's 25 assists in the match. Krista Stoltz (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) added four assists in her collegiate debut.

Defensively, St. Ben's tallied six blocks to the Eagles' three, two of which came from the hands of Sandstrom. Kostek had a team-high eight digs, while Danielle Rhodes (Iowa City, Iowa/City) (Iowa City, Iowa/City) and Kelsey Korporal (Sumner, Iowa/Sumner-Fredericksburg) (Sumner, Iowa/Sumner-Fredericksburg) posted six digs apiece.

Wednesday's loss comes at the entrance of the team's toughest week of the entire 2010 schedule, which is a challenge to face so early in the season without having the injured Courtney Jonas (Neenah, Wis./Valley Christian) (Neenah, Wis./Valley Christian) and Karrah Miller (Aurora, Neb./Nebraska Christian) (Aurora, Neb./Nebraska Christian) available to play. One positive note the team took from the match was the ability to get a feel for how the Eagles' 5-1 and 6-2 offenses stack up.

Northwestern will get another shot at the Blazers, who received votes in the AVCA Preseason Top 25 Poll, this weekend at a tournament hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. The Eagles will face Eau Claire and Concordia-Moorhead on Friday before taking on St. Ben's and Carthage College on Saturday. Three of those four teams are amongst the top 30 in all of NCAA Division III.
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