Story Headlines- The Northwest Missouri State University volleyball team opened the 2015 season with a pair of 3-0 victories over Malone University and Concord University on Friday in Canton, Ohio.
- Northwest moves to 2-0 on the season with a pair of games scheduled for Saturday before heading back to Missouri.
- Freshman
Maddy Bruder led the team in both matches with 12 kills and 11 kills, respectively.
- The Bearcats allowed over 20 points in just one set on the day.
Game One Key Statistics (Northwest def. Malone, 3-0; 25-13, 25-18, 25-22)
- Northwest beat Malone in three sets to open the 2015 season.
- The Bearcats hit .269 as a team with 44 kills and five service aces. The Bearcats best set came in the first, hitting .458 as a team while limiting Malone to a -.080 attack percentage.
- Northwest forced 17 total Malone errors in the match.
- Bruder had a match-high 12 kills to go along with eight digs.
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Alexis Williams hit .583 with nine kills and four blocks.
Jackie Becker and
Miranda Foster each had eight kills.
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Shelby Duren and
Aarika Wittenburg had match-highs of 11 digs defensively. Duren also had six kills and a service ace. Wittenburg also added a service ace.
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Sarah Dannettell had a match-best 37 assists with three digs and two block assists.
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Gabby Torline had a pair of service aces with five digs.
- Malone moved to 1-1 after beating Urbana University earlier in the day.
Game One Key Sequence- Northwest found itself down early in the first set, 10-5. But the Bearcats responded and finished the game with a 20-3 rally. Northwest got back-to-back kills from Becker and Duren. After a Foster ace, Becker and Duren again provided back-to-back kills to tie the match, 10-10. The Bearcats took the lead for good two plays later on a Malone error, 12-11. Malone would manage just two more points in the opening set.
Game Two Key Statistics (Northwest def. Concord, 3-0; 25-13, 25-12, 25-13)
- The Bearcats hit .373 as a team to sweep Concord, 3-0, in the second contest of Friday's slate.
- Northwest's best offensive set came in the second set, tallying 18 kills against just three errors with a .625 attack percentage.
- Defensively, the Bearcats held Concord to just a .043 attack percentage in the first set and a -.194 in the third.
- Bruder had seven digs to go along with her 11 kills. More impressively, Bruder did not commit an error in the match, hitting .611.
- Williams had her second strong game, hitting .563 with 10 kills and four blocks.
- Wittenburg had a team-high eight digs and added two asists.
- Duren had seven kills with four digs and three service aces.
- Dannettell added 28 assists with three digs and a service ace.
- Torline had four service aces to give her six between the two matches on the day.
- Concord falls to 0-2 after losing to Edinboro in the day's second match.
Game Two Key Sequence- After cruising through the first two sets, Northwest fell behind early in the third set, 7-5. But the Bearcats didn't take long to make sure the match wouldn't extend beyond three sets. After a kill from Bruder, Northwest forced an error and got another kill from
Darcy Sunderman to take an 8-7 lead. Concord would help out by committing three straight errors to fall behind, 11-7. After a
Jordan Trimble ace,
Shelby Duren completed the eight-point run with a kill to put the Bearcats up, 12-7. Northwest would go on another seven-point run to put the match away.
Up Next- The Bearcats stay in Ohio for a pair of Saturday matches. Northwest will face Edinboro (Pa.) at 1 p.m. followed by a 6 p.m. match against Urbana University.
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