Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – Saturday turned out to be a tough go-around for the University of Northwestern volleyball squad, which dropped a five-set match to Wisconsin-Oshkosh and a three-set contest to 21st-ranked Millikin University on Day 2 of the Wisconsin-Eau Claire Classic. The Eagles will head back into Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) play with a 17-10 overall record.

The loss to Oshkosh was Northwestern's lone five-set setback this year, having won four matches in 3-2 fashion earlier in the season. UNW won the first set in 25-20 fashion, but then yielded the second and third rounds to the Titans by the same score. After a close 25-23 Set 4 win by Northwestern, it was Oshkosh who put the heat on in the fifth set, winning 15-6 to take the match. The Eagles had better numbers than Oshkosh across the board, but Northwestern had just three kills in the fifth set to hamper any chance of a match win.

Northwestern hit .208, netting 63 kills on 173 attempts with 27 errors as Lizzy Jonas (Neenah, Wis./Valley Christian ) and Leesa Hulstrand (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie) combined for 57 assists. Lindsey Peterson (Sheffield, Iowa/West Fork) was one of four Eagles to record double-digit kills as she led the team with 16 to go with 15 digs. Lizzy Potratz (Oshkosh, Wis./Valley Christian ) collected 25 of the team's 76 digs.

After a physically demanding match against Oshkosh, the challenge got even tougher against the top 25 Big Blue from Millikin, who has lost a mere five contests this season. Millikin's set victories came in 25-17, 25-20, and 25-16 fashion, as the Eagles were only able to string together 32 kills and a .155 hitting rate.

Hallie Mueth (Sheffield, Iowa/West Fork) was Northwestern's top hitter in terms of total kills, but none of the Eagles were able to reach 10 kills.

Fortunately for the Eagles, they have nearly all week to prepare for an important weekend of league play. Northwestern plays at Minnesota-Morris on Friday at 7 p.m. in what potentially could determine the conference champion before coming back to the Twin Cities metro area to face Crown College in St. Bonifacius on Saturday at 1 p.m.