The Northwest Missouri State volleyball team came back from two sets down to defeat Southwest Baptist, 3-2, on Friday evening inside Bearcat Arena in the regular season finale. Northwest moves to 12-17 on the season and will now await its seeding for the 2013 MIAA Tournament. Southwest Baptist drops to 17-14 overall. Both teams are now tied at 6-10 in MIAA play.

On senior night, Mackie Keller led the five Northwest players in double-digit kill totals with 15. Brooke Bartosh added 14 kills and Jackie Becker had 13 to go along with three blocks. Abby Graves and Shelby Duren each had 11 kills.Kirsten Hudgens had 37 assists and senior Bridget Hanafin had 23 assists. Libero Bailey Vance had a game-high 28 digs while Duren added 22. Aarika Wittenburg had 12 digs.

After dropping the first two sets, Northwest rebounded from an early third set deficit to force a game four, winning 25-22. In the fourth set, Southwest Baptist drew a couple early ties but never led in the set. Northwest used an 11-5 rally to finish off the set, 25-19, after SBU tied the match at 14-14.

Neither team pulled away early in the fifth set and as the teams traded sides at the midway point, Northwest held a slim lead, 8-7. But a couple timely kills from Bartosh and Becker gave the Bearcats some breathing room to pull away,15-7.

Prior to the match, Keller and Hanafin were honored as part of Senior Day festivities. This will conclude the 2013 Northwest volleyball regular season.

— NWMSU Sports Information —