Freshman Madeline Hanno. Photo by Lisa Post
After a 3-0 defeat on the road to Nebraska Wesleyan on Saturday, the Northwestern volleyball team avoided a losing streak with a 3-1 win on Tuesday night against Briar Cliff.
Tuesday night’s victory (25-23, 25-20, 21-25, 25-19) was won at the net for the Raiders, who totaled 17.5 blocks as a team.
“When we got going, our aggressive serving helped the front row to dominate in blocking,” said senior hitter Jennie Jansen.
NW came out quick in the first set, but Briar Cliff rallied to keep the game within a couple of points. A NW kill and a Briar Cliff error gave the Raiders a first set win.
The Chargers did not let the early setback hold them down, and stormed to 9-3 lead in game two. They couldn’t keep the momentum going, and the Raiders clawed back to a 25-20 win.
Briar Cliff needed a win in the third set to avoid the sweep, and got that by hitting .293 while also holding NW to .128.
The Raiders responded with a pickup in defensive intensity in the fourth and final game, and held the Chargers to a negative hitting percentage.
Floerchinger led the offensive attack with 17 kills, and set 16 assists. Jansen hit an efficient .391 to earn 12 kills.
Freshman setter Madeline Hanno lofted up 25 assists.
Sophomore Alexis Bart had 22 digs to lead NW. Junior Nicole Jacobs added nine digs in the back row.
On Saturday, the Raiders were upset 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-17) by Nebraska Wesleyan in Lincoln, Neb.
The first game featured 13 ties, but the Prairie Wolves ended up on top.
In the second set, Nebraska Wesleyan never trailed and were in the driver’s seat as the teams headed to the break.
Hitting errors cost NW eight points in the third set, and it was enough to end the match.
“They’ve gotten games off of some of the top teams in the GPAC, so it wasn’t ever a gimme game going in,” Jansen said. “We didn’t compete all the way through.”
NW will play at 3 p.m. on Saturday as they travel to Crete, Neb. to face Doane.
