Volleyball squad drops five-set thriller

In front of a packed house, the Northwestern volleyball team lost a heart-breaking five-set match Tuesday night to rival Dordt in Sioux Center. The team dropped to 9-12 (2-2).
“Dordt is always an exciting rivalry,” said junior Jennie Jansen. “There is nothing quite like playing in a gym with hundreds of screaming fans, where every point feels like a match point. Matches like that one are why we love the game of volleyball.”
After losing the first set 25-18, NW recovered with a 25-20 win. Dordt answered with a 25-21 set, and NW rebounded in the fourth set 25-18. The first half of the final set looked promising for NW as they led 8-5, but the service errors that were evident all game (14 total) gave Dordt momentum. The Defenders went on a 10-4 run to win the thriller.
Jansen led the attack with 16 kills. Seniors Rylee Hulstein and Kate Boersma had impressive offensive performances, both recording 11 kills.
Freshman Kaitlin Floerchinger lofted up 39 assists. Defensively, Hulstein led the squad with 23 digs. Junior Jaci Moret and freshman Alexis Bart added 14 and 13 digs, respectively.
“We played well and worked hard throughout the whole night, but they were able to pull it off,” said junior Danie Floerchinger. “It could’ve gone either way and last night it went [to them]. Games like those are about aggressiveness and fight, and they had a little more than us.”
Last Saturday, the squad hosted and defeated Hastings. NW won in four sets (25-14, 25-21, 22-25, 25-22). This was their season-high third straight win.
“Our defense really stepped up. We were getting blocks and digs, which kept the momentum on our side,” Moret said.
NW had a nearly flawless first set, and a 9-4 run to win the second set. After being a little shaky in the third set, NW had another late run in the fourth set to seal the win for the Raiders.
Jansen led the team by hitting .319 for a career-high 18 kills. Hulstein led the team in digs with 22 and totaled eight kills. Freshman Katelyn Kragt put down seven kills for NW’s right side. Kaitlin Floerchinger put up 34 assists and totaled 17 digs while Bart and Moret registered 21 and 13 digs, respectively.
The Raiders travel to Nebraska this weekend to play Concordia on Friday and Midland on Saturday.