Story Headlines- The Northwest Missouri State University volleyball team fell to the Missouri Western Griffons on Tuesday evening, 3-0, at the MWSU Fieldhouse.
- The Bearcats fall to 15-11 overall and 8-8 in MIAA play. The Griffons improved to 21-7 overall and 12-4 in conference action.
- Freshman
Maddy Bruder had a team-high 10 kills with nine digs.
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Jordan Trimble had 17 assists with eight digs while
Megan Stilmock had 16 assists, 10 digs and a service ace.
- Libero
Aarika Wittenburg had a match-best 23 digs with a pair of assists and a service ace.
Key Northwest Statistics (Northwest falls 3-0; 22-25, 29-31, 18-25)
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Miranda Foster and
Jackie Becker each had three block assists defensively.
- Foster also added six kills and a pair of digs. Becker had eight kills with two digs.
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Darcy Sunderman had eigh digs and seven kills.
Alexis Williams had four kills and a pair of block assists.
- Northwest's best set came in the third, hitting .152 with eight kills against three errors.
- In the second set, the Bearcats tallied 17 kills while holding the Griffons to their match-low attack percentage at .132.
Key Northwest Sequences- Down 17-22 in the first set, Northwest rallied late to pull within one. Sunderman started the rally with a kill and Becker followed up by a quick kill to make it 22-18. Sunderman picked up another kill to make it 22-19 and Foster tallied a kill from Stilmock on the next point to make it 22-20, forcing a Griffon timeout. After a Northwest attack error, Missouri Western had a service error and followed it with an attack error to make it 23-22. The Griffons would win the next two points to take the opening set.
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- After falling behind by as many as seven midway through the second set, Northwest would make a strong rally and force extra points before eventually falling, 31-29. The late rally would include nine ties and nine lead changes. The Bearcats would have as many as four set points but were unable to put the point away. Northwest would fight off three Missouri Western set points as well, answering with timely defense and offense. Tied, 25-25, Foster and Becker came up with a block to give Northwest a second set point at 26-25 but Missouri Western would respond with a 2-0 run to go up, 26-27. Sunderman got a kill to tie it at 27-27 and the Griffons committed an attack error to give the Bearcats a third set point, 28-27. Missouri Western would take the lead over the next two points but Schlepenbach pulled the Bearcats back with a kill to tie it, 29-29. The Griffons would get a kill and then blocked a Northwest attack on the next two points to take the second set, 31-29.
Up Next- The Bearcats head to St. Charles, Mo., for a 7 p.m. match against Lindenwood on Friday. The regular season concludes on Saturday evening with a 7 p.m. match at Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Mo.
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