ORANGE CITY, Iowa – The No. 14-ranked Northwestern College volleyball team (17-9, 9-7 GPAC) shook off a sluggish first set to dominate the final three sets in a 3-1 victory over the Morningside Mustangs (11-20, 2-14 GPAC) in the final regular season game of the season Tuesday evening inside the Bultman Center.
Despite a slow start in the opening set, the Raiders would completely dominate Morningside in four sets, led by 12 service aces and 12 team blocks on the evening. Bekah Horstman (Sr., Pella, Iowa/Pella Christian) led the charge at the net for the Raiders with 7 blocks on the match, as Macay Van’t Hul (So., Rock Valley, Iowa/Western Christian) and Katie Peters (Jr., Le Mars, Iowa/Gehlen Catholic) recorded 5 and 4 blocks, respectively. Emily Strasser (Sr., Sioux Falls, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian) and Alysen Dexter (Fr., Urbandale, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) paced the Raiders with four service aces each.
The Mustangs came out with focus intensity, and capitalized on Raider over-balls, to take the first set 25-21. But come the second set, it was a complete flip of the script.
Though Morningside took the early lead in set two, the Raiders would charge back and eventually tie the match at 11-11. Going on a 3-0 after tying the match, thanks to back-to-back-to-back kills from Dexter, the Raiders took their first lead of either set and would never look back. Coming out of a Morningside timeout, the Mustangs would pick up their 12th point of the set, making it 14-12 Raiders. It was then Northwestern put their foot to the pedal, going on an 11-0 sprint to close out the match 25-12 and take all momentum from the Mustangs for the remainder of the match. The run featured three more kills for Dexter.
Set three continued to see the Raiders play inspired volleyball, jumping out to a quick 12-4 advantage behind two 4-0 spurts, as Savonne Sterk (So., Lynden, Wash./Lynden) made her name known collecting three straight kills in the action. The Raiders would pull away and take the set 25-14, and with it a 2-1 match lead.
In set four, the Mustangs showed a bit more life but a 5-0 run midway through kept total control on the Raider side of the net, as Northwestern would prevail 25-16 and end the regular season with the 3-1 victory in front of the home crowd.
Jadeyn Schutt (Jr., Orange City, Iowa/MOC-Floyd Valley) and Olivia Granstra (So., Sheldon, Iowa/Western Christian) tallied 21 and 19 assists, respectively, to guide the Raider offense. Defensively, it was Strasser who led the team with 19 digs on the match.
The victory over the Mustangs this evening secures the No. 5 seed for the Raiders in the upcoming conference tournament.
Up Next: Northwestern prepares for the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) women’s volleyball tournament that is set to commence this upcoming Saturday, November 6. The Raiders will hit the road as the No. 5-seed to square off with the No. 4-seed Dakota Wesleyan Tigers in Mitchell, S.D.
