Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 WHITEWATER, Wis. – It must have been the bus ride.

Playing far enough away from campus to require a bus trip for the first time this season, the University of Northwestern volleyball team won both of its matches in Day 1 of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Invitational, beating Millikin University 3-2 and Bethel University 3-0. The victory over Millikin Big Blue was special for the Eagles in that it gave head coach Beth Wilmeth the go-ahead for first place in the program's all-time coaching victories, a mark that UNW would like to have given its leader much earlier in the season.

Against Millikin (25-23, 23-25, 23-25, 25-14, 15-13), Northwestern tallied 14 blocks, 11 of which came off the hands of Cari Miller (West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley), who added 12 kills and a .320 hitting percentage in the five-set match. Lydia Palkert (Excelsior, Minn./Southwest Christian)'s match high 18 kills are a new career high for the sophomore, who used a .364 attacking rate of her own to help UNW hit .273 as a team. Krista Stoltz (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) was good for 46 assists during a match that saw the Eagles hit .242 or better in each of the sets.

UNW found itself down 2-1 after three sets, but the Eagles went into the fourth set with momentum after nearly coming back from a 23-16 deficit in the third. Northwestern took eight of the final 10 points in that round to spur a lopsided 25-14 win in the fourth set to force a race to 15 in the decisive fifth.

In addition to the blocking effort, Northwestern's Lexi Bertsch (Andover, Minn./Meadow Creek Christian) added a 20-dig performance to her season's resume. Lizzy Potratz (Oshkosh, Wis./Valley Christian ) was close behind with 15.

Millikin was led by Audrey Krajec, who had 16 kills. Sara Travis was close behind at 15.

A 3-0 sweep of Bethel was quite possibly the Eagles' best performance as a team so far this season as UNW drew even with the Royals, who beat Northwestern in three sets on August 31 at a tournament in St. Joseph, Minn. UNW won the first and third sets handily (25-15 and 25-18), but had to work a little extra for a 28-26 Set 2 victory.

Kendra Korporal (Sumner, Iowa /Sumner-Fredericksburg) and Hallie Mueth (Sheffield, Iowa/West Fork) each had 12 kills for the Eagles as the two hit .367 and .242 respectively. Mueth's 12 points on offense is a career high for the junior transfer who is early in her UNW career. Stoltz was just two assists shy of the 46 she had in the five-set match against Millikin, using 44 assists against Bethel to help the Eagles post a .358 team attacking rate.

Four different Northwestern players recorded double-digit digs in the match, with Bertsch leading the way at 18. The Eagles were strong on the block again, finishing with 10.5 in the Friday nightcap.

Wilmeth's new all-time wins mark of 217 tops Jill Peterson (1993-2003), whose daughter -- Mueth, is a junior on the 2013 Eagles roster. Peterson was in her 10th season at the team's helm, like Wilmeth is now, when she reached the 200-win mark.

UNW (3-8) will hope to carry Friday's momentum into a big Saturday morning matchup when the Eagles face off against tournament host Wisconsin-Whitewater, who was ranked No. 19 in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) poll. The Eagles will square off against the Warhawks at 10 a.m. before wrapping up the two-day invitational with a 12 p.m. match against Wisconsin Lutheran College.