MADISON, Wis. - If the Northern Athletics Conference Tournament is half as good a show as the Edgewood College and Benedictine University volleyball teams put on Friday night, then everyone better buckle their seat belts for the ride. The pair of Eagles traded haymakers for over two hours in the Edgedome, before Edgewood College emerged with a thrilling 25-23, 25-18, 21-25, 18-25, 15-10 victory. With the win Edgewood College runs their school record winning streak to 11 matches and grabbed hold of first place in the NAC.

As a sign of the match to come, the two teams battled through 12 ties and five lead changes in the first set of the match. Tied at 21-21, Edgewood College (18-4, 7-1 NAC) scored back-to-back kills from Jessica Martin and Lindsey Swansby to force a Benedictine timeout at 23-21. Nicole Adams answered for Benedictine, but Katie Wedvick and Swansby teamed up for a block to bring Edgewood College to set point. Benedictine tallied once before Wedvick put down the kill which ended the set.

The Eagles put together one of their best sets of the season in the second set to put Benedictine down 2-0. Mallory Palmer pounded away at Benedictine's defense with six kills in 15 attempts. Palmer, who is chasing the Edgewood College all-time kills record, scored four kills during a 9-1 run that turned a 13-11 Edgewood College deficit into a commanding 20-14 lead. After Benedictine University (19-3, 6-1 NAC) cut the Edgewood College lead to 21-17, Kaylin Wayne scored back-to-back kills and the Eagles went on to win the set.

Benedictine University, however, had no intention of going home quietly. Benedictine picked themselves up off the canvas and hit .238 in the third set to cut Edgewood College's lead in half with a 25-21 win. Candice Cuppini had four kills in that third set and another four in the fourth set as Benedictine pulled back to even at 2-2, setting up a winner-take-all race to 15 in the fifth set.

Tied 4-4, Edgewood College got the jump they needed on Benedictine. Kaylin Wayne scored a kill, followed by three straight Benedictine errors. Martin and Wedvick then teamed up on a block to give Edgewood College a 9-4 lead. Benedictine responded with a kill from Kaitlin Walsh and two more from Nicole Adams, but Wayne cut off the Benedictine run with another kill. Leading 12-9 Edgewood College head coach subbed in Laura Sweeney to serve and the senior delivered. Sweeney scored two service points, including a kill from Wedvick which brought the Eagles to match point at 14-9. Cuppini scored a kill on the first match point, but on the second, Cuppini's tip in front of the referee's stand went wide to give Edgewood College the victory.

Palmer led all players with 14 kills on a whopping 57 attack attempts. Martin and Wedvick both hit double figures with 11 kills, with Wedvick posting a match-high .385 attack percentage. Sam Himmelspach was all over the court with 25 digs for Edgewood College, while setter Lindsey Swansby had a season-high 20 digs to go with 50 assists. The Eagles defense was superb with Palmer and Sweeney also getting 15 digs each and the team totaling 98 for the match.

Benedictine was led by Cuppini with 13 kills in the team's first NAC loss of the year. Kaitlin Walsh and Molly Kovacich had 11 kills each, while Kara Zuro had 20 a team-high 20 digs. Benedictine has 12 service aces against Edgewood College.

Edgewood College returns to action Saturday morning against Aurora University at 11:00 a.m. in another NAC match. The Eagles are in the middle of four-match home stand. Saturday's match with the Spartans can be seen live on EdgewoodCollegeEagles.com.