Last Friday and Saturday the Northwestern volleyball team competed in the Hastings Tournament. The Raider women went undefeated in the tournament and improved to 12-1 on the season.The women defeated two ranked teams over the weekend: No. 5 Oklahoma Baptist and No. 12 Bellevue University.
The victories helped propel Northwestern from 23rd to 12th in the country.
“We did really well throughout the tournament,” said junior captain Kaitlin Floerchinger. “Each of the teams we played presented different puzzles, different people we had to focus on and different skills that they had. We just did a really good job adjusting to each of those teams.”
Floerchinger received NAIA Player of the Week for her efforts at the tournament.
The Raider women beat Johnson and Wales College in the first game in three sets. They also beat University of Montana Western in the third game in three sets.
In both games the women were led by Floerchinger and got contributions from sophomores Karlie Schut and Haley Chambers. All three combined for 27 kills against Johnson and Wales and 36 kills against Montana Western. Freshman Kellie Goedken added 13 kills of her own against Montana Western.
Against Oklahoma Baptist, in the second game of the tournament, the women faced their toughest challenge yet. The match went five games, and each of the first four games were within five points. Floerchinger led the Raiders’ attack with 22 kills. Schut contributed with 15 kills, and Goedken added 10.
The final win of the tournament against Bellevue created quite the stir in the national rankings.
“We beat them in four games,” Floerchinger said. “It was a really big deal and really helped push us in the rankings as well as boost our confidence.”
Floerchinger led the way again with 18 kills, and Schut had 13. The two of them led the Raiders in each of the four games. Chambers had eight kills.
The Raiders will travel to Olathe, Kan., this weekend for their final non-conference tournament.
