ST. PAUL -- As Northwestern College (Minn.) Head Volleyball Coach Beth Wilmeth notes, "The real work begins now" as the Eagles prepare for their third consecutive trip to the NCAA Division III Tournament at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. Northwestern, the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Regular Season and Tournament Champion, will face off against the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, regular season champion of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) who boasts a 29-7 record.

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NCAA Tournament Brackets: Interactive | Printable
NCAA Tournament Digital Program
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St. Thomas campus map (all matches played in Anderson Athletic & Recration Complex (ARC))

St. Thomas Regional Schedule
Thursday, Nov. 8
Match 1: 12:30 p.m. -- St. Benedict (27-5) vs. Dominican (24-8)
Saint Benedict wins 3-0
Match 2: 3 p.m. -- Northwestern (26-8) vs. UW-Stevens Point (29-7)
Northwestern wins 3-2
Match 3: 5:30 p.m. -- Wartburg (35-5) vs. UW-Eau Claire (25-11)
UW-Eau Claire wins 3-2
Match 4: 8 p.m. -- St. Thomas (34-1) vs. Cornell (20-10)
St. Thomas wins 3-2

Friday, Nov. 9  
Match 5: 4:30 p.m. -- Saint Benedict (28-5) vs. Northwestern (27-8)  
Match 6: 7 p.m. -- UW-Eau Claire (26-11) vs. St. Thomas (35-1)

Saturday, Nov. 10
Championship: 7 p.m.: Match 5 winner vs. Match 6 winner

Northwestern Tournament Notes | Northwestern Statistics
Northwestern enters this year's NCAA Tournament with a 26-8 record. The Eagles, who claimed the UMAC regular season title outright, have won 12 straight matches, including last Saturday's Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament championship contest against St. Scholastica.

Besides St. Thomas, Northwestern is the only team from the state of Minnesota to earn berths in each of the last three NCAA Division III Tournaments. The Eagles are still in the hunt for their first-ever NCAA Tournament win.

Northwestern went 14-1 on its home court in the Ericksen Center this season. The Eagles' lone home loss came against Bethel University on the first day of competition on Aug. 31.

NWC Head Coach Beth Wilmeth's teams have earned 20 or more victories in seven of her nine seasons at the Eagles' helm. At the same time, Northwestern has claimed seven UMAC regular season titles.

The Northwestern roster includes three sets of sisters (Bertsch, Jonas, Potratz). In addition to those six players, three more have had sisters that have played for the Eagles in the last five years.

Setter Krista Stoltz (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) is currently second in the nation (NCAA Division III) in assists per set (11.54). The junior enters this weekend with 2,857 career assists (10.99 per set).

Northwestern's top three hitters (based on kills per set) were newcomers to the Eagles roster in 2012. Freshman Kendra Korporal (Sumner, Iowa /Sumner-Fredericksburg) leads NWC with 436 kills (3.96 per set, .271 attacking percentage).

Northwestern is a combined 3-4 against other teams in the eight-team NCAA regional at St. Thomas. The Eagles are responsible for two of St. Benedict's five losses in 2012.

In six matches all-time, Northwestern has not lost to its first round opponent, Wisconsin-Stevens Point. The last time the Eagles and Pointers faced one another was on Sept. 9, 2011, with NWC winning 3-2. Northwestern and Stevens Point have faced nine common opponents in 2012, with the Eagles going a combined 11-4 against those teams.