The Northwest Missouri State University volleyball team defeated Fort Hays State, 3-1, on Saturday at Bearcat Arena in Maryville, Mo.
– Northwest improves to 17-14 overall and 11-7 in conference play to finish the season. Fort Hays ends the season with an 11-23 mark and a 2-16 MIAA record.
– Maddy Bruder had 17 kills with 19 digs, three blocks and added an assist.
– Prior to the match, the Bearcats honored Taylor Linenberger, Gaby da Silva, Sarah Dannettell and Darcy Sunderman as part of Senior Day.
Key Northwest Statistics
– The Bearcats won the first set, 25-11, but dropped the second, 25-21. Northwest finished the match by winning the second and third sets by scores of 25-16 and 25-12.
– For the match, the Bearcats hit .243 while holding the Tigers to just a .019 attack percentage, forcing 32 errors.
– Northwest had 11 blocks to Fort Hays State’s six.
– Sofia Schleppenbach had 15 kills with nine blocks and two digs. She hit .379 for the match with just four attacking errors.
– Olivia Nowakowski had 27 digs with four assists.
– Maddy Ahrens had 33 assists with 11 digs, two service aces and a kill.
– Dannettell had 16 assists with three digs, two blocks and two kills.
– Da Silva had nine digs with four kills and a block.
– Morgan Lewis added nine kills with two digs and a block.
Key Northwest Sequence
– In the fourth set, Fort Hays jumped out to an early 10-7 lead. But Northwest came roaring back. Bruder had a pair of kills with a Tiger attack error in between to make it 10-10, forcing a timeout. Bruder and Schleppenbach each added kills before Fort Hays was able to get a point back at 12-11. But another Bruder kill gave the possession back to Northwest at 13-11. With Ahrens on the service line, the Bearcats would record seven-straight points before the Tigers managed to get a kill to make it 20-12. That would be the last Fort Hays point as Northwest closed the match out on a 5-0 run, capped by a block by Linenberger and Schleppenbach on match point.
Up Next
– Northwest will now await seeding in the MIAA tournament. The first round will be played at campus sites on Tuesday, Nov. 14.
— Northwest Athletics —