OMAHA, Neb. – Top-ranked Northwestern College dominated the serving and blocking categories Friday and kept its perfect season intact with a 25-19, 25-18, 25-21 Great Plains Athletic Conference volleyball victory over College of Saint Mary at the Lied Fitness Center.
Facing an opponent that had won 60 of its 70 sets this season, the Flames found plenty of bright moments.
“It’s a loss and my competitive side hates losing,” CSM coach Rick Pruett said. “But it’s probably one of the better matches we’ve played this year, as far as just playing hard and being really aggressive.”
The Red Raiders improved to 21-0 overall and 10-0 in GPAC play, while CSM dropped to 12-10 and 3-6. Northwestern had 24 block assists to CSM’s six, and eight service aces to CSM’s none. But the Flames recorded 39 kills to the Red Raiders’ 34.
“We also had more errors,” Pruett said. “But we were going for our shots, so some of those errors are just going to happen. And they’re the best blocking team in the country. But overall, I was happy with our performance. We’re just a few plays away, here or there, from getting over the hump. If we can continue that energy, we’re going to get some wins and we could make a run here.”
One of Malory Dickson‘s four kills in the opening set pulled CSM within 19-18, but the visitors ran off six of the next seven to grab the opener. Leading just 11-9 in set two, Northwestern scored five of the next six and wasn’t threatened the rest of the way.
In the third set, the Flames trailed 18-14, but got kills from Liz Henrichson, Grace Werner and Madisyn Havermann in a 4-2 run to get within 20-18. But the veteran Red Raiders steadied themselves and closed it out.
Werner paced the Flames with 13 kills and a .345 hitting percentage. “I thought Grace played really aggressive tonight,” Pruett said.
In her first varsity start and major test, Dickson held her own with four kills, hitting .375.
“Things don’t rattle her,” Pruett said. “She’s very even-keeled and I thought she played pretty well.”
CSM is right back in action Saturday with a 3 p.m. home conference match against Dordt University.
