The Northwest Missouri State University volleyball team fell to Nebraska-Kearney, 3-1, at the Health and Sports Center on Friday in Kearney, Neb.

The Bearcats fall to 9-9 on the year and 3-3 in MIAA play. The No. 9 ranked Lopers improve to 17-2 and 5-1 in conference action.

After dropping the first two sets, Northwest battled back in the third, taking the set, 27-25.

Key Northwest Statistics
– The Bearcats hit .120 for the match and held the Lopers to a .176 attack percentage.

– Maddy Bruder had 13 kills with 15 digs and a block.

– Freshman Morgan Lewis had 11 kills and four blocks.

– Olivia Nowakowski had 34 digs and a pair of assists.

– Sarah Dannettell added 32 assists to go along with five kills.

Key Northwest Sequence
– Down 23-21 in the third set, Northwest forced an attacking error by UNK and got a block from Lewis and Gaby da Silva to tie the set, 23-23. The Lopers got match point at 24-23 after a kill from Kendall Schroer. But a Lewis kill tied the match again at 24-24. Again the Lopers got match point at 25-24 on a kill from Schroer, forcing a Northwest timeout. Out of the break, Darcy Sundrman and Sofia Schleppenbach got back-to-back kills to give the Bearcats set point, 26-25. Sunderman served up an ace on the next point and Northwest took the third set, 27-25.

Up Next
– Northwest travels to Hays, Kan., to take on Fort Hays State at 2 p.m. on Saturday afternoon at Gross Memorial Coliseum.

— Northwest Athletics —