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ST. PAUL -- The Northwestern College volleyball team is headed back to the NCAA Division III Tournament for the third straight year following a convincing 3-0 (25-18, 25-14, 25-12) win over second seeded College of St. Scholastica in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament Championship. All of the Eagles' hitters averaged at least a .400 attacking percentage in front of an energized Ericksen Center home crowd.

Following an early 4-1 deficit, Northwestern, the top tournament's top seed, came on to take a 7-5 lead on a kill by Kendra Korporal (Sumner, Iowa /Sumner-Fredericksburg). Ties followed at 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 before another Korporal kill and two St. Scholastica attacking errors gave the Eagles a 15-12 advantage. NWC then took 10 of the next 16 points to close out the set with a 25-18 buffer. The Purple and Gold defense kept several balls alive during the set, with Katelyn Kostek (Des Moines, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) earning some key digs and the net defense rejecting several Saints attacks.

Set 2 was when Northwestern really started to create separation and showcase what was in its arsenal. An early 5-0 NWC lead forced St. Scholastica into a timeout before Kills from Tija Rudzitis (Andover, Minn./Meadow Creek Christian ) and Cari Miller (West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley) boosted the Eagles' lead to 11-3. Northwestern was able to keep its margin at six to seven points until the Eagles took off from a 16-10 lead, winning more points from Rudzitis and Korporal before finishing on a kill from Lizzy Potratz (Oshkosh, Wis./Valley Christian ) that sent the match into its third set following a 25-14 second set win.

The third and final set went even quicker, with the Eagles keeping St. Scholastica from hitting the halfway mark of 13 points while rallying to 25 of their own. Anna Zyvoloski's kill tied the score at 3-3 for the Saints, but the Eagles won the next seven points, taking kills from Miller and Korporal. St. Scholastica got to 10 on Caitlin McKernon's kill to cut the NWC lead to six, but that margin was short lived as the Eagles closed out the set, and the match, on a 9-2 run to win 25-12.

Northwestern, who earned its 26th win of the season and its 12th straight, hit .423 on the night while holding St. Scholastica to a .152 rate. NWC started with a .344 rate in the first set, improved to .366 in Set 2 and finished with a strong .581 percentage to finish off the match in the third set. The Eagles' 53 kills were a team high for three sets this season as were Krista Stoltz (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial)'s 47 assists.

Korporal finished with 15 kills on 33 attempts, with Potratz right behind at 14 kills on 25 attempts. Rudzitis had a successful night too, posing eight kills on 12 tries.

Stoltz was named the tournament's most valuable player after her play in the Eagles'  two matches against Minnesota Morris and St. Scholastica this week.

Defensively, Lexi Bertsch (Andover, Minn./Meadow Creek Christian) had 13 digs to lead all players, with Koropral chiming in with 11. Rudzitis had her hands on four of the Eagles' seven blocks.

St. Scholastica (17-13) was led by Zyvoloski's 11 kills and Jess Hanowski's 14 assists.

The win gave Northwestern its sixth UMAC Tournament championship. The Eagles have won two of the last three UMAC finales and three of the last five.

Now 26-8, the Eagles will rest for the remainder of the weekend before sitting down on Monday morning to hear where the NCAA Volleyball Committee places them in next week's first and second round matches, which are expected to start on Friday, Nov. 9. Northwestern was ranked fifth in Thursday's final NCAA central region rankings behind Washington University-St. Louis, the University of St. Thomas, Saint Benedict and Wartburg College, all of whom have spent time in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Top 25 poll this season and are expected to receive invitations to the NCAA Tournament. St. Thomas and Wartburg won their respective conference tournament championships on Saturday to earn automatic berths as well.

Monday's selection show will be broadcast on NCAA.com at 10 a.m.