ST. PAUL – The University of Northwestern volleyball team picked up a pair of Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) victories on Saturday, defeating both the College of St. Scholastica and North Central University in three sets apiece. The wins bump the Eagles' record to 15-7 overall and 8-0 in league play.

The sweep over the Saints from St. Scholastica was especially important for UNW, not only because it was dubbed the UMAC Game of the Week, but also due to the Eagles' need to scramble to come back from a 2-0 deficit to beat CSS 3-2 on September 27.

Northwestern came out hot in the first set, leaving little room for how much the Eagles wanted to start the day with a "W" in hand. The Eagles won the round 25-12 thanks to 18 kills and a .318 hitting rate with Lindsey Peterson (Sheffield, Iowa/West Fork) tallying five kills in the set. UNW took off from an 8-7 lead, winning the next seven points to go up 15-7. After the Saints scored their 11th point of the set, Northwestern claimed seven of the next eight points to finish out the round.

Set 2 again went to the Eagles with another rather large margin separating the two squads. Northwestern had doubled up St. Scholastica 12-6, and continued the momentum to the end with a 25-17 set victory. UNW's hitting percentage increased thanks to 16 kills on 28 opportunities as Faith Vander Galien (Chanhassen, Minn./Southwest Christian) found some room in the middle, netting five kills.

CSS made the third set tight, but it was the Eagles who came out on top in a 25-23 finish. In a bit of a role reversal, Northwestern found itself trailing 12-6, but the home team had come back to knot the score at 17-17 on Hallie Mueth (Sheffield, Iowa/West Fork)'s kill on an assist from Lizzy Potratz (Oshkosh, Wis./Valley Christian ). The score remained a back-and-forth battle into the 20s before four straight points by the Eagles put the momentum in UNW's favor for good.

Northwestern's .325 attacking rate for the match was somewhat consistent while the Eagles allowed St. Scholastica to counter with a .131 mark, over 100 points lower than the Saints' .244 mark in that September bout. Both Peterson and Mueth finished with 12 kills to pace UNW as Leesa Hulstrand (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie) and Lizzy Jonas (Neenah, Wis./Valley Christian ) combined for 44 assists. Potratz was good for 15 digs while Vander Galien had her hand on five blocks.

Everyone saw the court in Northwestern's 3-0 win over North Central (25-8, 25-6, 25-13). It didn't take long for the Eagles to find room on the Rams' side of the court as UNW had 41 kills and a .446 hitting percentage while holding North Central to negative numbers for an attacking rate.

12 of the 19 Northwestern players had at least one kill, with Vander Galien's eight leading the way. Hulstrand saw more court time against the Rams, finishing with 18 assists while getting in on four blocks on the defensive side. Speaking of blocks, Vander Galien made rejecting North Central's attacks look rather easy with seven in the night cap.

UNW will take a break from its UMAC schedule with a nonconference tournament next weekend at Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where the Eagles will face Saint Benedict, Saint Mary's (Minn.), Wisconsin-Oshkosh, and Millikin. Northwestern's first contest starts at 3 p.m. on Friday, October 17.