The Northwest Missouri State volleyball team opened a weekend homestand with a 3-0 sweep over Lindenwood on Friday evening at Bearcat Arena. The win moves Northwest to 10-15 on the season and 4-8 in MIAA play. Lindenwood drops to 5-16 and is now an even 5-5 in conference action.

The Bearcats hit .382 in the first set as they nearly lead wire-to-wire. After tying the match up at 5-5, senior Bridget Hanafin served six straight points to help Northwest pull away to win, 25-17. In the second set, Northwest used a 6-1 rally to pull ahead 13-6 and never looked back. Lindenwood made a late six-point rally to pull the match to 23-21 before kills from senior Mackie Keller and junior Abby Graves finished off the set, 25-22.

After the break, Northwest wasted no time establishing a quick 9-3 lead before forcing a Lindenwood timeout. The lead would grow to double-digits at 14-4 and would never get closer than 10 the rest of the way with Northwest winning, 25-10.

As a team, Northwest hit .392 while holding Lindenwood to .078 for the match. Sophomore Shelby Duren had a game-high 12 kills to go along with 10 digs. Junior Kirsten Hudgens had 41 assists and three service aces. Hanafin had 43 total assists. Junior Bailey Vance had 15 digs. Junior Gabby Kuhl hit .583 and had seven kills while appearing in all three sets. Classmate Brooke Bartosh had a game-high three blocks defensively.

Northwest will return to action tomorrow against Missouri Southern at 7 p.m. at Bearcat Arena.

— Northwest Sports Information —