Northwest volleyball falls in first round of NCAA Tournament
Dec. 3—Northwest Missouri State rolled out to a 2-0 lead over Nebraska-Kearney in Thursday's first round of the NCAA Division II Tournament.
But the final three sets belonged to the Lopers, who clawed out a five-set win at the Multipurpose Building in Warrensburg, Missouri.
No. 6 UNK won by set scores of 21-25, 25-27, 25-21, 25-9 and 15-11. The No. 3-seeded Bearcats close their season at 26-6 overall.
Northwest finished with 35 attack errors to UNK's 17. UNK hit .281 to Northwest's .127.
The first set was knotted up at 21 before the Bearcats closed to out with four-straight points capped by a kill from Rachel Sturdevant.
UNK led 20-13 in the second set before Northwest clawed back, though the Lopers were within two points of the set at 23-18. Kristen Ford rattled off three-straight service aces, and the Bearcats eventually claimed victory in the set.
UNK controlled much of the second set in a 25-21 win and breezed to a 25-9 victory in the fourth for a decisive fifth set.
UNK led 11-7 in the fifth when Amy Woerth used Northwest's last timeout. At 13-11, Northwest appeared to pull within one point on a block, but a UNK challenge was reviewed and saw the point go to the Lopers, who then won the match on a block.
Sturdevant led the Bearcats with 15 kills. Kelsey Havel reached 12 kills.
Brandon Zenner can be reached at brandon.zenner@newspressnow.com. Follow him on Twitter: @NPNowZenner.
