The NW volleyball team has continued to send their opponents packing as they won the GPAC tournament defeating Dakota Wesleyan and Concordia in the semifinal and championship games respectively. This means that the Raiders are once again heading to the NAIA national tournament.
The GPAC semifinal game was a definitive victory for the Raiders as they took three sets in a row beating the Tigers 3-0. The first set was started with a tight battle to get ahead. The Raiders managed to get a five-point run and despite their best efforts, Dakota Wesleyan could not recover. The set ended 25-17. The second set stayed tight also with the Raiders getting an early 3-1 lead but struggled to pull further ahead further, managing to only gain two more points to their lead throughout the early and middle portions of the game bringing the score to 19-15. This set ended with an even closer score than the last with the Raiders winning 25-18. The third set ended with an even closer final score as the Raiders secured their third victory with just a four-point lead and a final score of 25-21. Although Dakota Wesleyan closed the gap further and further each set they couldn’t pull ahead of the Raiders, who moved ahead to the championship game.
The championship game was another tight but secure win for the Raiders. NW dominated the first set finishing 25-11. However, Concordia found their groove in the second set as they used their timeouts to pull ahead after the Raider’s early lead, defeating NW 23-25. The third set saw the Raiders match their performance from the first set shutting the Bulldogs down 25-13. As the fourth and final set began Concordia pulled ahead of NW with an early 7-3 lead, however, their luck ran out as the Raiders tied the game at 7-7 and proceeded to get and maintain a modest lead through to the end. The Raiders took home the fourth set with a score of 25-19 and took home the GPAC trophy with a final score of 3-1.
Head coach Kyle Van Den Bosch praised the players and NW community. He said “the GPAC championship game was a great team win. I thought all of our players did their part really well to contribute for the conference championship. The student body was awesome and really helped propel the girls to victory”.
The team must now prepare for the NAIA tournament, where they will play Saint Xavier for the first time since 1993. This is the ninth year in a row NW has made it to the tournament. Things look promising for NW as they are the #2 seed.
