Box Score

ST. PAUL -- Northwestern College won its fourth straight match on Tuesday night as the Eagles defeated nonconference opponent Carleton College 3-0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-15). While the NWC offense was able to settle into a rhythm, the Eagles defense had one of its best games of the year from a statistics standpoint, holding the Knights to a .038 attacking percentage.

The first set gave Northwestern the biggest challenge to get to 25 points as both teams were tied several times down the stretch at 15, 17 and 18. A Lydia Palkert (Excelsior, Minn./Southwest Christian) kill broke the 18-18 tie followed by a Carleton attacking error that put the Eagles up 20-18. A few points later, NWC was clinging to a 22-21 advantage before the home team took three of the next four points to win the set.

Northwestern owned 15-10 leads in both the second and third sets, creating a barrier between the Eagles and Knights, who entered the match with a 14-4 record. NWC closed out both sets on solid runs to boost its own record to 14-7 overall.

Northwestern hit .277 for the match, tallying 47 kills compared to Carleton's 23. The freshman tandem of Kendra Korporal (Sumner, Iowa /Sumner-Fredericksburg) and Lydia Palkert (Excelsior, Minn./Southwest Christian) nearly had half of the Eagles' kills, with each stepping up in a specific set. Palkert tallied five kills on 10 attempts in Set 1, while Korporal had a six-kill second set. As a team, the Purple and Gold limited Carleton to just three kills throughout the entire second set.

Lizzy Potratz (Oshkosh, Wis./Valley Christian ) added 10 kills, while Krista Stoltz (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) guided the Eagles' offense, taking credit for 41 of the team's 46 assists. Defensively, Lexi Bertsch (Andover, Minn./Meadow Creek Christian) was one of three players on both sides of the court to record double-digit digs, finishing the match with 15. Potratz was right behind with 13 digs of her own.

Tija Rudzitis (Andover, Minn./Meadow Creek Christian ) paced Northwestern defensively at the net, getting her hands on five blocks and many more balls that kept the Eagles in several points. Palkert added four blocks.

Northwestern will now shift its attention back to the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) portion of its schedule, which resumes on Friday night against the University of Minnesota Morris in Morris. The Eagles will then return closer to home to face Crown College in St. Bonifacius, Minn. on Saturday.