Orange City, Iowa — No.2 Northwestern College returns to the court for its rivalry match against 22nd-ranked Dordt in a GPAC showdown between ranked teams. First serve on Wednesday night, Oct. 15, at the Bultman Center is scheduled for 7:30pm. Northwestern sits atop the current GPAC standings with an 8-0 record, 20-0 overall; Dordt has won five straight matches and is tied with Midland for fourth place in the current standings with a 6-3 mark, 15-6 overall.
The Red Raiders lead the all-time series 45-42, dating back to the 1989 season. Northwestern is 3-7 over the last 10 matches against Dordt, having snapped a five-match losing streak with its 3-1 win last month in Sioux Center.
Since its 3-1 loss to Northwestern, Dordt has gone 7-1 and has won five consecutive matches. They are currently tied with Midland for fourth place in the GPAC with a 6-3 record, 15-6 overall. Dordt has a pair of five set wins over DWU, a five-set win over Grand View and victories against Briar Cliff and Mount Marty during its streak.
Now in his ninth season as the Defenders head coach, Hanson returns four starters and six players from a 2018 team that won the GPAC regular and postseason titles, going 16-0. They lost to national runner-up Columbia (Mo.) in the quarterfinals of the NAIA Championship and finished 31-3 on the year. Hanson is a two-time GPAC Coach of the Year and served as an assistant coach at the University of Georgia for three years prior to coming to Dordt.
The Red Raiders won their only match played last week, defeating Briar Cliff 3-1 at the Bultman Center. Scheduled to play Jamestown over the weekend, the match was postponed due to snow and will now be played Oct. 21. Northwestern’s most recent wins come against DWU, York, Jamestown, Mount Marty and BCU.
Earlier This Season Anna Wedel put down a career-high 22 kills in leading Northwestern to a 3-1 win over Dordt in a match-up played in Sioux Center on Sept. 11. The Red Raiders dropped the first set 25-22 but rallied to win the final three, 25-13, 25-20, 25-15.
Northwestern hit .328 for the match and totaled seven blocks; Dordt hit .126 and tallied eight blocks. Emily Van Ginkel and A.J. Kacmarynski both put down nine kills and Bekah Horstman and Makenzie Fink added seven kills each. Lacey Wacker directed the Red Raiders offense and put up 47 assists; Wedel (13 digs) and Emily Strasser (10 digs) led the backrow effort.
Karsyn Winterfeld led Dordt with 13 kills and Hannah Connelly totaled 12 digs.
