The Northwest Missouri State University volleyball team defeated Missouri Southern, 3-2, on Saturday at the Robert Ellis Young Gym in Joplin, Mo.
– The Bearcats improved to 16-13 overall and 10-6 in MIAA play. Missouri Southern falls to 11-18 overall and 4-12 in conference action.
– Maddy Bruder had a match-high 26 kills with 20 digs and three assists.

Key Northwest Statistics
– Northwest lost the first set, 25-23, but rebounded to win the second and third sets, 25-14 and 25-17. The Lions took the third, 25-19, and the Bearcats won the fourth, 15-9.
– The Northwest offense hit .352 for the match while holding Missouri Southern to a .237 attack percentage.
– Sofia Schleppenbach had 20 kills with a pair of blocks and two digs.
– Hallie Sidney had 11 kills with two digs and a block.
– Maddy Ahrens had 33 assists with eight digs and three service aces.
– Sarah Dannettell added 29 assists with five kills, four digs and one block.
– Olivia Nowakowski had 16 digs while Gaby da Silva had 14 digs.

Key Northwest Sequence
– The Bearcats jumped out to a 9-7 lead in the fifth and decisive set. Dannettell and Schleppenbach had back-to-back kills to make it 11-8 before Missouri Southern got a point back. After the two teams traded points to make it 12-9, Northwest closed out the match with a 3-0 run. Schleppenbach put away another kill and a Lion attack error forced a timeout on match point, 14-9. Out of the break, the Bearcats forced another Missouri Southern attacking error to end the match.

Up Next
– Northwest hosts Nebraska-Kearney on Friday, Nov. 10 at 6 p.m.

— Northwest Athletics —