Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

NWC-UW-Eau Claire Box Score
NWC-Saint Benedict Box Score

MINNEAPOLIS – Northwestern College earned its fourth and fifth consecutive victories of the 2012 season on Friday, picking up two key victories at the Augsburg College Invitational. In the tournament's first match at 2 p.m., the Eagles topped the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire 3-1 (25-21, 25-19, 15-25, 26-24) before coming from behind to beat the College of Saint Benedict for the second time in three days. Eau Claire received votes in Tuesday's latest rendition of the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Top 25 poll, while the Blazers were ranked 18th in the same NCAA Division III poll.

Northwestern hit .232 against the Blugolds from Wisconsin-Eau Claire, connecting with 13 kills in each of the first two sets. Three Eagles recorded double digit kills in the match, with Kendra Korporal (Sumner, Iowa /Sumner-Fredericksburg) leading the way with 12. Courtney Jonas (Neenah, Wis./Valley Christian) and Lizzy Potratz (Oshkosh, Wis./Valley Christian ) each added 10, while Krista Stoltz (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) had 44 assists throughout the four sets.

In addition to its high powered offense, NWC had three players also earn 17 or more digs on defense, including Lexi Bertsch (Andover, Minn./Meadow Creek Christian), who finished the match with 19. As a team, the Eagles had 10 more digs than Eau Claire.

Amy Bomgren and Kelly Schuh paced the Blugolds with 16 and 15 kills, respectively, as Eau Claire posted a .157 attacking rate.

Northwestern had just seen St. Benedict on Wednesday night in the Eagles' first road match of the season. While the Eagles needed a fourth set on Friday, compared to the 3-0 result from two days ago, the end result was the same with the Purple and Gold coming away victorious (18-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-14).

The evening's box score looked much like Northwestern's match against Eau Claire, as Korporal and Jonas were big at the net while Jonas left with a handful of blocks. Korporal hit .200 with 13 kills on 50 attempts, while Jonas added 11 kills on 20 attempts. Stoltz was her usual self, chalking up 39 assists while setting the table for the Eagles to hit .250 as a team. The Eagles' back-row defense got even better from the matinee feature, with Bertsch digging 29 balls, while Potratz came away with 24 digs.

Alexa Rinde and Lexi Alm combined for 25 of St. Ben's' 47 kills while Taya Kockelman had 30 assists for the Blazers.

Another full day of volleyball awaits Northwestern, who improves to 6-1 following Friday's action. Saturday's schedule at Augsburg will pit the Eagles against Gustavus Adolphus College at 11 a.m. before NWC gets to face the host-Auggies in their home gymnasium at Si Melby Hall at 3 p.m.