By David Boyce

MARYVILLE, Mo. ­- Other than an occasional unforced error by the Bearcats, the match was going according to plan. Northwest Missouri State volleyball game won the first set and was one point away from taking the second set against Southwest Baptist.
 
But on set point in the second set, play was stopped and Bearcat Arena turned silent Saturday evening. Northwest junior Natalie Gora went down and then clutched her left knee.
 
After a few quiet minutes, Gora was helped off the court. Northwest won the next point but the injury shook the Bearcats.
 
It took two sets before Northwest adjusted to the loss of Gora and rallied for a 25-22, 25-21, 17-25, 23-25, 15-11 victory.
 
"We know how to take the fifth set," said sophomore Miranda Foster, who finished with a match-high 17 kills. "It was a challenge but we've been in that position before. We handled it really well."
 
The win lifted Northwest to 8-8 overall and 5-3 in the MIAA. The Bearcats needed to beat Baptist to stay in position of catching the five teams ahead of them.
 
"It was a big goal for us this week to finish 2-0," Northwest volleyball coach Amy Woerth said. "We played extremely well Friday night and had a lot of energy. When you come out the second day, you have to manufacture that energy and sometimes things aren't perfect. You have to tell your body what to do instead of listening to your body.
 
"I felt like tonight we had some lessons to learn from the standpoint of gutting it out. We finished it, which was good. But we can do it at a higher level."
 
Northwest came out strong, taking a 7-1 lead in the first set. The Bearcats capitalized on some early errors by Baptist. Northwest then got a bit sloppy and saw its advantage evaporate into a 11-11 tie.
 
Back-to-back kills by Gora got Northwest back on track. Northwest built a 21-13 lead and never trailed again.
 
The second set was much closer. Baptist led 18-17. Northwest scored the next three points for a 20-18 lead and led the rest of the second set.
 
Northwest had trouble finding its rhythm in the third set without Gora. The Bearcats trailed 18-13 when Gora limped out of the locker room on crutches. She returned to the bench with a huge ice bag wrapped around her knee. The third set completely belonged to Baptist.
 
"It was the turning point in the match," Woerth said of Gora's injury. "You like to use it as a rallying point, but you never know how your team is going to respond to it. They were responding to it in the right way of knowing what they needed to do. It was putting the emotion aside and really doing it."
 
The Bearcats continued to struggle in the fourth set, falling behind 21-13. They showed signs of returning to form, scoring seven straight points to close to 21-20. Baptist hung on, but Northwest was ready for the crucial final set.
 
Foster was confident the Bearcats would pull it back together without Gora because she said every member on the team is valuable. Still, losing Gora affected the team.
 
"I know I got teary eyed right away because she is such a crucial part of our team, but at the same time, every single member of our team means so much," Foster said. "The fact that we can pull anyone off the bench and still come out with a win shows how much we worked to make the team cohesion as good as it is right now."
 
Northwest jumped to a 7-4 lead in the fifth set and maintained a two to three point advantage until Baptist closed to 11-10. Senior Gabby Kuhl made a play to give Northwest a 12-10 lead. The Bearcats also scored the next point for a 13-10 advantage.
 
Woerth was happy the way the team finished strong, scoring four of the last five points for the gutsy victory.
 
"What I was really proud of our team was we were up in the fifth set and they started pushing back and we stayed strong and finished," Woerth said. "That was a good growing point for us."