MANKATO, Minn.-- The Bethany Lutheran volleyball team (5-11 overall, 0-0 UMAC) hosts Northwestern (7-4, 1-0) Friday at 7 p.m. and Northland (6-8, 0-0) Saturday at 3 p.m. to open the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) slate.

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The Series
UNW owns the all-time series lead at 24-6 as the teams have met every season since 2003. BLC leads 26-5 and have won the last 13-straight meetings.

Bethany Lutheran
Senior Megan Rutt (Le Center, Minn.) is the team's leading hitter at 155 kills and 2.82 kills/set and classmate Mindy Poehler (Nicollet) joins her in triple digits with 100 kills.

Junior Brittany Sanders (St. James, Minn.) has 286 assists and senior Kalli Mathiasen (St. Cloud, Minn.) has 141 as they co-run the offense. Sanders leads the team with 22 service aces and senior Veeva Lee (St. Paul) follows with 21. Lee has a team-best 251 digs.

Career Record Watch
Rutt is third in kills (1,189) and Mathiasen is seventh in assists (884). Senior Haley Domonoske (Waterville, Minn.) is seventh in solo blocks (40) and seventh in block assists (145) and total blocks (181). Lee is tied for sixth in service aces (98).

Northwestern
The Eagles received votes in this week's edition of the AVCA Top 25 poll. Jenay Fuglestad leads her team with 149 kills and 3.92 kills/set. Kalley Schwitters follows with 133 kills. Setter Sydney Schwitters was the UMAC's Rookie of the Year last season and has 343 assists this season. Lucy Pelzel leads her squad at the service line with 21 aces and Marylyn Schroyer has a team-high 206 digs.

Northland
The LumberJills travel to play Hamline Friday night before continuing to Mankato. Bailey Wynn is the team's leading hitter with 111 kills and 2.58 kills/set. Vivienne Kallio has 19 service aces and Kennedi Bernia has 171 digs.