In a back and forth battle the Northwest Missouri State volleyball Bearcats picked up a thrilling, 3-2 win over Truman State in MIAA play Friday night at Bearcat Arena.

Northwest (8-10, 2-3 MIAA) battled all night as momentum continued to shift to both sides before the Bearcats pulled out the five set victory. With the win over Truman the Bearcats have now won four of their last five heading into an important home match against nationally ranked Central Missouri in their annual “Dig Pink” match.

Despite the score the Bearcats looked impressive in the first set before the Bulldogs took sets two and three. Northwest closed out the match winning, 25-21, 20-25, 21-25, 25-23, 15-13.

The Bearcats raced out to a quick, 6-3 lead in the fifth set after they fought to come back in set four and force the deciding set. Truman would take the lead on a kill in the middle forcing a Northwest timeout, but the Bearcats would not respond until a second timeout and TSU held a, 10-7 lead.

However, the second Northwest timeout and a Whitney Mason kill would again swing the momentum back to the Bearcats. Northwest would go on their own run taking a, 13-12 lead after a second attack from Alex Hanna found the middle of the TSU side of the floor.

A pair of unforced Bulldog errors would give Northwest game point as Brooke Bartosh closed out the win with a kill down the left sideline. Bartosh finished with 13 kills for the Bearcats and was extremely efficient hitting .312 on the night.

Senior Laira Akin recorded a season high 56 assists and 12 digs to close out her ninth double-double of the season and third consecutive.

Abby Graves continued to knock down kills with a team high 17 and earned her fourth double-double of the season adding a season high 16 digs.

Amy Majors led an impressive offensive attack by the Bearcats, hitting .419 and adding a season high 16 kills.

— NWMSU Sports Information —