Box Score Box Score

ST. PAUL -- Martin Luther College gave Northwestern College all they had, but the Eagles advanced to Saturday's UMAC Tournament championship with a 3-1 victory on their home court on Wednesday night.  The Knights took the first set 27-25, but then Northwestern responded with a 28-26 victory in Set. No. 2 before closing out the match with wins of 25-23 and 25-22.

After starting the match with a .160 attacking percentage in the initial set, NWC came back with .425 and .406 in the next two sets, including 21 kills in the second.  And yet, Martin Luther wouldn't go away quietly. At some points of the game, it seemed as though the Knights found a way to dig nearly every Eagles attack or put back another attempt after a Northwestern block with the end of their season on the line.  NWC was able to put some separation between themselves and third-seeded Martin Luther in the fourth set before claiming the 3-1 win.

Greta King (Willmar, Minn./Willmar) (Willmar, Minn./Willmar) was nearly unstoppable on offense, leading the team with 22 kills and a .340 attacking mark.  Chelsea Koth (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) was close behind with 17 kills, while Courtney Jonas (Neenah, Wis./Valley Christian) started Northwestern's offense early in the match, finishing with 14 kills on 27 attempts.  Krista Stoltz (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) had a career high 62 assists while pacing the Eagles to a .298 hitting rate for the match.

Stoltz also led the Purple and Gold on defense with 14 digs while Jacki Smith (Roseville, Minn./Concordia Academy) (Shoreview, Minn./Concordia Academy) had her hand on seven of the team's 10.5 blocks.  King also came up big up front, adding four blocks.

Martin Luther had four players hit double digit kills, including Rebecca Engelbrecht's 19.  Miranda Maasz had 56 assists for the Knights, who hit .255 on the night.

Northwestern, the second seed in the UMAC Tournament, improved to 27-5 overall following the win, and will head north to face top seed College of St. Scholastica to earn the conference's automatic qualifier into the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year.  The Eagles and Saints, who shared the UMAC regular season championship, each beat the other on their home floors this season.  Saturday's title match is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Duluth, Minn.