MADISON, Wis. – The Edgewood College Eagles showed they are more than prepared for the upcoming NACC Tournament on Saturday after breezing by St. Norbert College and pulling out a five-set nail-biter against Wheaton College in the nightcap. Rachel Tesch moved into first place all-time in school history in digs as the Eagles beat the Green Knights 28-26, 25-20, 25-12 and the Thunder 25-20, 20-25, 25-15, 17-25, 15-7.

St. Norbert gave Edgewood College a bit of trouble in the first set early on in the afternoon. The Green Knights ran out to a 6-0 lead and it wouldn't be until the Eagles' 19th point when they would even things up. A Savannah Koester kill to make it 20-19 Eagles capped a 6-0 run. Later, Koester recorded another kill to tie things at 26 before two St. Norbert attack errors gave the Eagles the win.

The Eagles went on to hit .257 and .367, respectively, in sets two and three to run away with the win. The win in the second set didn't come easy, either, as the Eagles had to battle back from an early 12-2 deficit. The Eagles scored nine of 10 points shortly after and would score six of the last seven.

Jordan Winkler and Emily Chaussee both finished with 11 kills while Rachel Tesch had 23 digs in the win. Renee Meister had five blocks—one solo—as the Eagles had 10 as a team.

Tesch entered the Wheaton match needing 11 digs to move past Suann Saltzberry (Adler) on the all-time digs list and broke it in the third set. She wound up with 17 in the match and now has 1,904 in her career. She also currently has the Edgewood College record in digs per set at a clip of 4.23.

The Eagles and Thunder battled back-and-forth all afternoon in a match that featured terrific offensive play on both sides. The Eagles hit .250 compared to a mark of .217 from the opposition while the teams combined for only 38 hitting errors in the five set match.

Wheaton, a team that had already defeated the Eagles in five sets earlier this year, began the fifth set with a service ace but the Eagles would score the next four points to gain the early momentum. A 5-0 run later on to make it 11-5 Eagles was enough to put it out of reach, as the Eagles would score the final three points of the set.

The Eagles had trouble containing Thunder outside hitter Shelby Knowles, who finished with 30 kills and just six errors over 72 attacks (.333). Meister was the perfect answer for the Eagles, as the sophomore middle hitter turned in a career-high 15 kills in 24 attacks (.500 attack percentage) to pace the Eagles offense.

Winkler (19) led four Eagle players in double figures in digs while Haley Schwenn dished out 25 assists. Alex Zapuchlak posted her seventh double-double of the year with 23 assists and 11 digs.

The Eagles close the regular season at 23-9 and will host a NACC Tournament semifinal match on Thursday, Nov. 5th at 7 pm in the Todd Wehr Edgedome.