FREMONT, Neb. – The No. 15-ranked Northwestern College volleyball team (12-6, 4-4 GPAC) ran up against a tough No. 3-ranked Midland Warriors (18-3, 7-3 GPAC) squad, falling 3-0 on the road in a Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) match.
The first set from inside the Wikert Event Center was a barnburner that eventually went the way of the Warriors, 27-25 as the Raiders came out with 16 kills in the opening set. Northwestern jumped out to an early 19-11 advantage but the third-ranked Warriors would battle their way back with an 11-3 run to square the score up at 22 apiece. With the match tied at 25-25, Midland took the set with back-to-back kills.
The Raiders would continue to battle in the second set, but spurts of 8-3 and 5-0 would allow the Warriors to prevail and take the second set 25-17. Though down 23-12, the no-quit Raider attitude allowed the Raiders to make it 23-16 before Midland pulled out the final two points. The third set saw more Northwestern grit, but the experienced Midland squad pulled out the third set, and sweeping the match, with a 25-18 final set score.
On the match, Northwestern topped Midland with 10 team kills to the Warriors’ nine. Alysen Dexter (Fr., Urbandale, Iowa/Des Moines Christian), Macay Van’t Hul (So., Rock Valley, Iowa/Western Christian), and Bekah Horstman (Sr., Pella, Iowa/Pella Christian) all had five kills on the evening.
Offensively, the Raiders were paced by double-digit kill leaders in Dexter (11) and Horstman (10).
Up Next: The Red Raiders will play host to No. 10-ranked College of Saint Mary Flames inside the Bultman Center on Friday, Oct. 15 in another top-15 GPAC clash.
