Raiders fall in GPAC semifinal

On Thursday night, the volleyball team dropped their GPAC tournament semifinal match against No. 1 seed Morningside 3-0 (25-15, 25-21, 25-23) in Sioux City.
The Raiders had fallen to the Mustangs twice already this year. Both games were five-set thrillers which brought a lot of hype surrounding the latest match.
The team moved on to the semifinal match against Morningside by knocking off Dordt with relative ease Tuesday night.
The Raiders swept Dordt, winning 25-20, 25-23 and 25-14. It was the second time in less than a week that NW defeated the Defenders, avenging an early season loss.
Junior outside hitter Jaci Moret led the Raiders with nine kills, while senior outside hitter Rylee Hulstein and senior middle hitter Kate Boersma added eight kills apiece. Freshman setter Kaitlin Floerchinger put up 30 sets on the stat sheet as well.
NW survived their only real scare of the night in the second game. Trailing 23-22, the Raiders rallied back, taking the last three points to win the game and take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match. They never looked back, running away with the third game 25-14.
“I think the team just needs to stay focused on each game, never looking past any certain opponent,” Boersma said. “We just need to focus on our game because the second we start worrying, we are going to lose focus of what we need to do.”
On Saturday, the Raiders finished the regular season by sweeping Concordia 25-21, 25-11 and 25-13. Moret led NW again, this time with 10 kills. Floerchinger had 27 assists, and freshman Mikinzie Phillips added five serving aces. Boersma contributed nine blocks as well.
The win clinched the fourth seed in the GPAC tournament for the Raiders.
“We as a team passed the ball really well,” Boersma said. “That is the key for any volleyball team but it is really important for us to get in sync so we can get our offense going. We also served very aggressively which kept them from attacking it back to us.”
The Raiders concluded the season with a 19-16 record, 11-5 in the GPAC. The loss also breaks the streak of five straight seasons that NW has made the NAIA tournament.