DULUTH, Minn. – The St. Scholastica volleyball team will host fellow Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) unbeaten Northwestern College on Friday night and then Crown College on Saturday this Dig Pink Weekend.

Match Times:
Friday vs. Northwestern – 7 p.m.
Saturday vs. Crown – 1 p.m.

GameDay Media:
Live Video | Live Stats

St. Scholastica Saints (16-6, 5-0 UMAC)
This weekend is Dig Pink Weekend as the CSS volleyball team will promote breast cancer awareness by wearing pink warm-up tops and throwing out pink volleyballs … The team also fundraised by selling baked goods and, if still available, will be sold at this weekend's matches … The Saints suffered their first home loss of the 2010 season on Wednesday, falling to 16th-ranked UW-Eau Claire in three sets … According to the most recent NCAA statistics, #Anna Zyvoloski# is 25th in the nation in kills per set and is 37th in points per set … #Sarah Kurtovich# is 28th in the country in assists per set … The Saints as a team are 31st in Division III in hitting percentage … The Saints will be looking for their first regular season win over Northwestern since the 2007 season.

Northwestern Eagles (14-9, 5-0 UMAC)
While the Eagles have won each of the last three UMAC regular season championships, its team will look significantly different in 2010 … While the Eagles lost two-time UMAC Player of the Year Steph Koth and four other starters to graduation, a solid core of players from those championship teams return, hoping to lead Northwestern to a fourth straight title and the NCAA postseason … Chelsea Koth, a 2009 first team all-conference award winner, will headline the team's offense this season from the outside hitter position … Koth led the team in kills per set in 2009 … Koth is joined up front by Elissa Sandstrom and Greta King, who each started their share of matches last year … Captaining the Eagles' ship in 2010 is senior setter Leah Kostek … Kostek tallied 613 assists for Northwestern in 2009 … As a team, Northwestern maintained a .189 attacking percentage last year. Sandstrom, Koth and King are all averaging over two kills per set with Koth at 3.01 … Kostek is again leading the team in assists with 9.55 assists per set … Sandstrom is also the team's leader in blocks with .97 per set … Kelsey Korporal is leading the team in digs with 4.77 per set … Northwestern is coming off a win over 24th-ranked Saint Mary's University on Wednesday … The Eagles will enter Friday nights' match with a 34-match conference regular season winning streak … Their last loss came against the Saints in 2007.

Last Meeting: (CSS All-Time Record vs. NWC: 17-31)
In last season's UMAC Tournament championship match, the Saints dethroned the regular season UMAC champions in a five-set thriller. #Paige Hardy# had 17 kills and Sarah Kurtovich (Andover, Minn./Andover HS) had 46 assists.

Crown Storm (2-15, 0-5 UMAC)
Crown will look to a solid group of six returners to help lay the foundation for the program … Head coach Kimmie Moehring hopes to find the right combination of starters to help lead the 2010 team to success in the UMAC … Moehring will be looking for two key returners, juniors Naomi Anderson and Trisha Birr to lead the team both on and off the court with their experience and leadership … Birr, who enters her second season at Crown, will look to be an offensive threat … Despite only playing four weeks of the 2009 campaign, Birr finished ninth amongst all UMAC players in attacking percentage at .222 … Anderson, who enters the 2010 season as a two-year starter, led last year's team with 176 kills and 43 blocks … Shelbie Vischer and Anderson are leading the team in kills per set with 2.68 and 2.07 respectively … Megan Musson is the team's leading setter with 7.11 assists per set … Anderson is also the team's leading blocker with 0.63 a set … Three players are averaging over two digs a set for the Storm.

Last Meeting: (CSS All-Time Record vs. Crown: 19-0)
Near the end of October last year the Saints swept Crown in three games. The Saints had their best attacking percentage of the year in the match at .342. Leading the way for the Saints was Paige Hardy (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing HS) with eight kills.