ORANGE CITY, Iowa – The Northwestern College volleyball team (12-5, 4-3 GPAC) downed the Briar Cliff Chargers (6-12, 1-7 GPAC) to get back to a winning record in Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) play Wednesday evening inside the Bultman Center.
Meeting for the second time this season, the Raiders dominated every aspect of the match finding their groove inside the Bultman Center never allowing the Chargers to eclipse the 20-point mark in the match. The Raiders held Briar Cliff to a .057 hitting percentage on the night, tallying seven blocks on the match.
The first set saw Briar Cliff jump out to an early 7-5 lead thanks to a 5-0 run to steal momentum early on, but that was it for the Chargers before the Raiders put the pedal to the metal and took it to the visiting squad. Using two four-point spurts, the Raiders were able to put the Chargers away 25-17 in the first set and never looked back. 17 points would be the most Briar Cliff would tally the rest of the match.
Set two started with pure Raider dominance thanks to an early 5-0 lead. BCU would take their first timeout down 6-1 and the Chargers would battle to make it a 12-11 Raider lead before the Raiders went on yet another four-point spurt to take complete control and force BCU to take their final timeout of the set. Once at 18-13, Northwestern would use a 7-1 run to close out the set and take the demanding 2-0 match lead.
Briar Cliff would claim the first three points of the third set in an attempt to repeat the two teams August 28 matchup by taking one set from the Raiders, but Northwestern would have none of it. Up 9-8 the Raiders took out the rest of Briar Cliff’s hopes by going on a 16-4 run to take the set 25-12.
Bekah Horstman (Sr., Pella, Iowa/Pella Christian) and Alysen Dexter (Fr., Urbandale, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) paced the Raiders tonight collecting 24 of the team’s 44 kills on the match. Jadeyn Schutt (Jr., Orange City, Iowa/MOC-Floyd Valley) had a phenomenal night serving, tallying a match-high four service aces.
Macay Van’t Hul (So., Rock Valley, Iowa/Western Christian) tallied 6 blocks on the night for Northwestern, with Schutt contributing four of her own.
Up Next: The Raiders hit the road for another tough GPAC contest against the No. 3-ranked Warriors of Midland University on Saturday afternoon in Fremont, Neb. First serve is slated for 3:00 p.m.
