Box Score



ST. PAUL -- The Northwestern College volleyball team used three comebacks to defeat the University of Minnesota Morris 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-17) and take the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Regular Season Championship outright on Friday night. The Eagles received a 19-kill performance from Kendra Korporal (Sumner, Iowa /Sumner-Fredericksburg) en route to 51 kills as a team to win at least a share of the league championship for the second straight year.

Northwestern's victory gave the Purple and Gold at least a share of the UMAC title. That minimum label of co-champs, with the Eagles' 14th and final UMAC match of the season coming on Saturday morning against Crown College, was moved to “outright” status following Martin Luther College's 3-2 defeat of the College of St. Scholastica moments later.

Minnesota Morris had Northwestern on its toes early in the match, as the Cougars built a 10-4 lead, thanks much in part to three consecutive Eagles attacking errors. Morris' advantage increased to 11-5 before NWC started its first comeback of the night. A kill from Tija Rudzitis (Andover, Minn./Meadow Creek Christian ) tied the score at 16-16 with more ties at 17, 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23 coming. Korporal used a pass from Krista Stoltz (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) to put down a kill and give the Eagles a 24-23 lead before a Cougars attacking error ended the set with NWC winning 25-23.

The second set was what fans leaving the Ericksen Center will remember as Morris built up what most would assume to be an insurmountable 19-10 margin. Northwestern's players turned their fans -- and themselves -- into believers though, rallying for seven straight points to cause a UMM timeout at 19-17. Lizzy Potratz (Oshkosh, Wis./Valley Christian ) continued her serving run, allowing the Eagles to tie the set at 19-19 on an attack from Stoltz that rode the top part of the net before falling inside the line on Morris' side of the court. The Cougars temporarily halted the momentum with a point at 20-19, but kills from Korporal and Rudzitis proved to be too much, and Northwestern led the match 2-0 with another 25-23 set victory.

Things were tight again to start the third set of the night, with the scoreboard being knotted seven times before either team was able to get to 10 points. Morris broke a 9-9 tie with four straight points to lead 13-9 before NWC started to gain points back, ultimately tying the score 14-14 on a Korporal-from-Stoltz kill. From then on, the Eagles were nearly untouchable, earning 11 of the next 14 points to win the set 25-17, and the match in straight sets.

Using a .302 hitting percentage in the first set, Northwestern overcame a -.025 second set rate to go for .184 in the third and finish at .159 for the night, earning 51 kills on 132 attempts. Stoltz had 39 of the Eagles' 46 assists while NWC held Morris to 27 kills and a .062 percentage throughout the match.

In addition to Korporal, whose 19 kills was a career high in three sets for the freshman, Rudzitis added 10 kills, six of which came in the first set. The senior also added a convincing kill to win the second set for Northwestern.

Defensively, three players had double-digit digs for the Eagles, led by Potratz's 14, with Lexi Bertsch (Andover, Minn./Meadow Creek Christian) coming close behind at 13. Rudzitis had her hands on seven of NWC's 11 team blocks, while Courtney Jonas (Neenah, Wis./Valley Christian) added four blocks to her six-kill night.

Emily Auch had eight kills to lead Morris, while Kaylie Clark turned in 20 digs. The Cougars (20-8, 9-4 UMAC) posted 14 blocks as a team.

Northwestern's UMAC championship is the team's fifth in the last six years and the 10th outright. Prior to 2012, the last time the Eagles stood alone in first place in the final conference standings was 2009. Last season, NWC shared the league title with the College of St. Scholastica. Northwestern has won at least a share of the UMAC championship six times in Beth Wilmeth's tenure as the team's head coach.

Now 22-8 overall (12-1 UMAC), NWC will get a quick night of sleep in before returning to the gym on Saturday to wrap up the regular season with matches against Crown and St. Catherine University. The Eagles will host Crown at 11 a.m. before playing St. Kate's at approximately 3 p.m.