Box Score

ST. PAUL – The Northwestern volleyball team improved its Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) record to 7-1 on Friday night with a rather speedy 3-0 (25-14, 25-12, 25-14) victory over Bethany Lutheran College. The Eagles used a .333 team attacking rate and nine blocks to sweep the season series over the Vikings.

The first set saw Northwestern keep pace in nearly regularly doubling Bethany's score, regardless of the Vikings' point total. A 4-2 Eagles lead turned into 10-5 as UNW received three straight kills from Kendra Korporal (Sumner, Iowa /Sumner-Fredericksburg) and Faith Vander Galien (Chanhassen, Minn./Southwest Christian). Bethany snuck in a few points thanks to a couple kills from Caitlin Decker, but the doubled-up lead stayed true when Korporal and Cari Miller (West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley) combined for three more kills to boost the Eagles' advantage to 22-11. The Vikings got to 13 points on a three-point run with Miranda Krenske at the service line, but a kill from Kirsta Stoltz and a Miller ace gave Northwestern the first set in 25-14 fashion.

Set 2 was more about defense as Northwestern needed just 11 kills to win 25-12. Korporal had a hand in three blocks as the Eagles went for five blocks as a team in the round as UNW's defense rejected attack attempts by Kristen Mielke and Kasslin Swenson. By the time Bethany got to 10 points, Northwestern was already at 20 as a Vander Galien kill and a Vikings service error had the Eagles leading 2-0 in the match score.

The Vikings had their first lead of the night early in Set 3 after a couple of attacking errors put the Eagles down 3-0 early on. Two offensive errors on Bethany's side of the net paired with a Lizzy Potratz (Oshkosh, Wis./Valley Christian ) kill put the Purple even with their opponent on the scoreboard before an offensive spree turned a 5-5 tie into a 17-9 advantage in Northwestern's favor. Stoltz spent plenty of time serving in the set as her 10 attempts led to nine points for the Eagles, who fittingly ended the night with their senior AVCA/NCAA All-American earning an ace to produce a 25-14 set victory and a 3-0 match win.

Stoltz recorded 37 assists to help the Eagles post an attacking rate above .300 while bumping her per-set assist rate to 10.73. The captain is 54 assists shy of 4,000 for her career and needs just 45 more to record her third straight 1,000-assist season.

Korporal's match-high 13 kills came on just 23 attempts, while Miller and Vander Galien each had eight kills from their middle hitter position. Miller, who is currently ranked seventh in the nation in blocks per set, had five rejections against the Vikings, while Korporal finished with four blocks on the night.

Decker had five kills to lead Bethany Lutheran, who finished with a -.010 attacking rate with more errors than kills. Jessi Jurries posted 15 digs for the Vikings.

Now 14-11 overall and 7-1 in UMAC play, Northwestern will be back in action on Saturday afternoon as the Eagles host Martin Luther College in the UMAC Game of the Week. The match is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. in the Ericksen Center gymnasium. UNW will then play a 6 p.m. night match at North Central University to wrap up the weekend.