Box Score



ST. PAUL – Northwestern College won its ninth match in 10 opportunities on Friday night, defeating Northland College 3-0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-14) in front of its home crowd in the Ericksen Center. The Eagles hit .291 on the night while holding the LumberJills at .080, marking the 10th time this season that an opponent has countered with an attacking percentage lower than .100.

Northwestern started the night off on the right foot, immediately taking control away from Northland in a first point-side out. Lexi Bertsch (Andover, Minn./Meadow Creek Christian) served successfully for the next six points as the Eagles went on an early run that led to a 7-0 initial lead. After letting the LumberJills sneak a few points in, Cari Miller (West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley) and Krista Stoltz (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) twice traded kills to pace the Purple and Gold to a 25-17 set victory.

Northland kept things close in the second set, staying within two points of the Eagles at 12-10 and 13-11. Northwestern then took the next five points to boost its advantage to 18-11 and a Lizzy Potratz (Oshkosh, Wis./Valley Christian ) kill solidified a 2-0 lead in the match for the Eagles following the 25-18 win. Set 3 was even more dominant on NWC's half of the court, with the home team earning 12 points before the Jills could score three. Tija Rudzitis (Andover, Minn./Meadow Creek Christian ) earned a kill to push the score to 21-13 in Northwestern's favor before Miller ended the set and match with consecutive kills from Stoltz.

Rudzitis led all players with 12 kills, with Miller right behind at 11 as both players hit .500 or better. Kendra Korporal (Sumner, Iowa /Sumner-Fredericksburg) added nine kills while Potratz added eight as Northwestern posted 46 kills as a team, 20 more than Northland's team total. Stoltz had 37 of the Eagles' 40 assists and Potratz had a match-high 13 digs in the back row. Of NWC's nine blocks, Miller got her hands on five of them. Rudzitis (four) and Lydia Palkert (Excelsior, Minn./Southwest Christian) (three) also found success at the net on defense.

Taylor Viegut had eight kills to lead Northland (8-17, 4-6 UMAC).

Now 19-8 overall, Northwestern will get a quick night's sleep before welcoming the College of St. Scholastica to campus for a 2 p.m. match on Saturday. The Eagles and Saints, who were Co-UMAC champions a year ago, share matching 9-1 conference records and currently share first place in the league standings.

Notes:
Northwestern honored two individual accomplishments before the game. Bertsch was honored for recording the 1,000th dig of her career, which took place against Bethany Lutheran College on October 13. Head coach Beth Wilmeth was also applauded for earning her 200th career victory, which came in the Eagles' last home game on September 29 versus North Central University. Wilmeth is 10 wins shy of becoming the Northwestern volleyball program's all-time winningest coach.