– The Northwest Missouri State University volleyball team swept Pittsburg State, 3-0, on Friday at John Lance Arena in Pittsburg, Kan.
– The Bearcats improve to 11-9 on the year and 5-3 in MIAA play. The Gorillas fall to 3-17 overall and 0-8 in conference action.
– Junior Maddy Bruder recorded her 1,000th career kill in the match and classmate Olivia Nowakowski carded her 1,000th career dig.
– Bruder finished the match with a match-high 12 kills to go along with 12 digs, two blocks and a service ace.
– Nowakowski had 16 digs with an assist.
Key Northwest Statistics
– Northwest won all three sets by scores of 25-17, 25-21 and 25-20.
– The Bearcats held the Gorillas to a .092 attack percentage. Northwest also recorded seven aces while PSU had just one.
– Sofia Schleppenbach had 11 kills with four service aces, two blocks and two digs.
– Gaby da Silva had nine digs to go along with a pair of service aces and a block.
– Morgan Lewis added six kills with three blocks.
– Sarah Dannettell had 17 assists with two blcoks.
– Maddy Ahrens had 15 assists with six digs.
Key Northwest Sequences
– The second set the Bearcats jumped out to an early lead. After a PSU attacking error, Schleppenbach had a service ace to make it 2-0. Sunderman and Lewis tallied back-to-back kills, pushing the lead to 4-0. After a Gorilla attack error and a bad set, PSU called a timeout trailing, 6-0. The Gorillas got their first point off a kill but another bad set, a kil from Lewis and another attacking error put Northwest up, 9-1. Pitt State battled back and even got to within one, 17-16, before the Bearcats went on an 8-4 run to close out the set.
– In the third, Pittsburg State took a late 20-19 lead on a kill from Noelle Dooley. But a kill from da Silva tied the match with a kill. With Schleppenbach at the service line, Northwest put away the match. She hit a pair of service aces and then PSU was called for an out of rotation point, giving the Bearcats a 23-20 lead. After a Gorilla attack error, PSU called a timeout as Northwest held match point. Sunderman gave the Bearcats the set off a kill from Ahrens.
Up Next
– The Bearcats will head to Edmond, Okla., for a 7 p.m. Saturday contest against Central Oklahoma.
— Northwest Athletics —