Friday, Oct. 8
No. 10 Northwest Missouri State at Newman, 6 p.m. | LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS
 
Saturday, Oct. 9
No. 10 Northwest Missouri State at Central Oklahoma, 3 p.m. | LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS
 
The No. 10-ranked Northwest Missouri State University volleyball team (11-2 overall, 4-1 MIAA) will remain on the road this week with two more MIAA matchups.
 
The Bearcats will travel to Wichita, Kan., for 6 p.m. Friday tilt against Newman University. Newman is 6-7 overall and 2-5 in MIAA play. The Jets have posted MIAA victories over Missouri Southern and Emporia State.
 
Northwest is 9-0 all-time vs. Newman, including a pair of 3-0 sweeps when the teams last met in the 2019 season.
 
Saturday's match will take the Bearcats to Edmond, Okla., to take on the Central Oklahoma Bronchos. The match is set to begin at 3 p.m. The Bronchos are 12-3 overall and 5-2 in MIAA action. UCO's two MIAA losses came at Pittsburg State (L, 3-0) and at Washburn (L, 3-0).
 
UCO holds a 16-3 lead in the all-time series with Northwest. UCO has won 11 straight matchups with Northwest. The Bearcats's last victory over the Bronchos came on Sept. 9, 2011, in Bolivar, Mo.
 
Northwest enters this week's action riding a four-match win streak. Northwest picked up the program's first victory over Nebraska-Kearney since 1990 with a 3-1 win in Kearney, Neb., last Friday night.
 
The Bearcats bounced back into the top-10 at No. 10 in the latest American Volleyball Coaches' Association Division II Top 25 rankings. It marks the 28th time in program history that Northwest has been ranked in the AVCA Top 25. Northwest's all-time highest ranking came at No. 8 in the Sept. 6, 2021 poll.

Northwest in AVCA Top 25
Sept. 19, 2016 – No. 22
Sept. 26, 2016 – No. 20
Oct. 3, 2016 – No. 18
Oct. 10, 2016 – No. 17
Oct. 17, 2016 – No. 17
Oct. 24, 2016 – No. 16
Oct. 31, 2016 – No. 21
Nov. 7, 2016 – No. 25
Nov. 14, 2016 – No. 25
Sept. 9, 2019 – No. 18
Sept. 16, 2019 – No. 15
Sept. 23, 2019 – No. 11
Sept. 30, 2019 – No. 10
Oct. 7, 2019 – No. 10
Oct. 14, 2019 – No. 14
Oct. 21, 2019 – No. 14
Oct. 28, 2019 – No. 14
Nov. 4, 2019 – No. 14
Nov. 11, 2019 – No. 19
Nov. 18, 2019 – No. 20
Nov. 25, 2019 – No. 21
Dec. 16, 2019 – No. 25
2021 Preseason – No. 17
Sept. 6, 2021 – No. 8
Sept. 13, 2021 – No. 12
Sept. 20, 2021 – No. 13
Sept. 27, 2021 – No. 13
Oct. 4, 2021 – No. 10
 
The Bearcats have recorded a pair of top-10 wins this season. Northwest posted a five-set win over then No. 5-ranked Tampa on Sept. 4. Northwest recorded a 3-1 win at No. 10-ranked Nebraska-Kearney on Oct. 1. It marks the third straight season that Northwest has knocked off a top-10 ranked opponent. Northwest scored a 3-0 win over No. 9-ranked Central Missouri in the 2018 season. In 2019, Northwest recorded a 31- victory over No. 7-ranked Northern State.
 
The first set result has not been a tell-tale sign for the Bearcat volleyball team this season. Northwest has dropped the first set five times, but has gone on to win four of the five matches. Northwest is 7-1 when winning the initial set.
 
Northwest has been perfect on the road this season putting together a 4-0 mark. The Bearcats have produced a record of 9-1 in road/neutral matches this year.
 
Most Road Wins – Single-Season
1. - 1994 - 10
2. - 1980 - 9
3. - 1999 - 8
      2018 - 8
5. - 2019 – 6
6. - 2005 - 6
       2016 - 6
       2017 - 6
9. - 1993 - 5
       1997 - 5
       1998 - 5
 
A pair of Northwest Missouri State University volleyball student-athletes have been named MIAA athletes of the week for their performance in two Bearcat victories over Nebraska-Kearney and Fort Hays State. Junior Kelsey Havel (Osage, Iowa) earned offensive athlete of the week honors, while sophomore Alyssa Rezac (Wahoo, Neb.) tallied setter of the week accolades.
 
Havel hit .276 and averaged 3.43 kills per set as Northwest picked up road wins over No. 10-ranked Nebraska-Kearney and Fort Hays State. Havel tallied 16 kills and hit .297 in a four-set triumph at UNK. She added two blocks in the victory. Havel came back with eight kills (.238), three service aces and a block in a three-set sweep of Fort Hays State.

Rezac ran the Bearcat offense to the tune of 12.29 assists per set in leading Northwest to a pair of league road victories. She also averaged 2.86 digs per set. She handed out 47 assists in a four-set win over the No. 10-ranked Nebraska-Kearney Lopers. She added two blocks and 10 digs as Northwest defeated UNK for the first time since 1990. Rezac posted her second double-double of the weekend with 39 assists and 10 digs in a three-set set of Fort Hays State.
 
Sophomore Alyssa Rezac (Wahoo, Neb.) leads Northwest in assists (422 – 10.82 assists per set). She ranks No. 2 in the MIAA in assists per set. She posted a phenomenal 48-assist, 24-dig effort in a five-set win over No. 5 Tampa (Sept. 4). Rezac sparked the No. 13 Bearcats to a 3-1 win over Pittsburg State. Rezac tallied a career-high 54 assists and added 19 digs in the four-set win. She has six double-doubles this season and seven for her career.
 
Junior Rachel Sturdevant (Kansas City, Mo.) is hitting a team-best .324 this season. She had nine kills in the win vs. Nebraska-Kearney, and then added seven kills in the triumph at Fort Hays State.
 
Freshman Payton Kirchhoefer (Omaha, Neb.) leads the squad in kills (169 – 3.45 kills/set). She ranks No. 4 in the MIAA in kills per set. Kirchhoefer posted a season-best 26 kills in a four-set match with Michigan Tech (Sept. 10). She has tallied 10 double-digit kill matches this year, including 14 in the four-set win over No. 10-ranked Nebraska-Kearney.
 
Sophomore Jaden Ferguson (Omaha, Neb.) is hitting .288 and ranks No. 2 in the team in kills (135 – 2.76 kills/set). Ferguson notched a season-best 18 kills vs. Grand Valley State (Sept. 10). Ferguson has had at least eight kills in nine of Northwest's 10 matches this season. Ferguson was credited with a career-high seven blocks in a five-set win over No. 5-ranked Tampa (Sept. 4).
 
Redshirt freshman Abby Brunssen (Atkins, Iowa) leads the Bearcats in blocks (30). Brunssen produced a season-high seven blocks in Northwest's 3-1 win at No. 10-ranked Nebraska-Kearney. She set her season-high for kills with 11 vs. Upper Iowa (Sept. 11) and at Missouri Western (Sept. 18). She produced the eighth-best attack percentage in a four-set match in Bearcat history against Missouri Western. Brunssen tallied a .562 attack percentage with 11 kills and two errors on 16 attacks in the four-set win over the Griffons.
 
Junior Hannah Koechl (Innsbruck Austria) has posted a team-best 220 digs (4.59 digs/set) through the first 13 matches of the season. She ranks fifth in the MIAA in total digs (220). She has reached double-figure dig totals in 10 of the 13 matches. She registered a season-high 38 digs in a five-set win over Grand Valley State (Sept. 10). Koechl recorded a match-high 34 digs in a four-set win over Pittsburg State in Hughes Fieldhouse. Koechl added four assists and a service ace vs. the Gorillas.
 
Senior setter Maddy Ahrens (Appleton, Wis.) ranks No. 6 in Northwest history with 2,785 career assists. Ahrens ranks No. 21 on the NCAA Division II active career list for total assists. Ahrens notched first-team all-MIAA honors in 2018 and followed up with second-team all-MIAA status in 2019.
 
Northwest Career Assists
1. Jennifer Pittrich – 5,428 (1993-1996)
2. Megan Danek – 5,064 (1999-2002)
3. Sarah Dannettell – 3,949 (2014-2017)
4. Laira Akin – 3,600 (2009-2011)
5. Abby Wilms – 3,104 (1997-1998)
6. Maddy Ahrens – 2,785 (2017-pr.)
 
The Bearcats came in at No. 3 in the preseason MIAA coaches' poll. Northwest received a pair of first place votes and was only two points away from second-place Washburn.
 
2021 MIAA Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll
1. Nebraska Kearney (7) - 96 points
2. Washburn (2) - 88 points
3. Northwest Missouri (2) - 86 points
4. Central Missouri - 75 points
5. Central Oklahoma - 62 points
6. Missouri Western - 48 points
7. Missouri Southern - 47 points
8. Pittsburg State - 43 points
9. Fort Hays State - 25 points
10. Emporia State - 20 points
11. Newman - 15 points
*First Place Votes Are in Parentheses
*Coaches Are Not Allowed To Vote For Their Own Team
 
Northwest secured its 16th 20-win season in program history in 2019. It marks the third time in four years that Northwest reached 20 wins or more in a season. It is the first back-to-back 20-win seasons for the Bearcats since 1999. Northwest had a stretch of six consecutive 20-win seasons from 1980 to 1985.
 
Northwest's 20-Win Seasons
52 – 1980
51 – 1981
46 – 1984
32 – 1982
30 – 1978
28 – 1979
27 – 1983
26 – 1994
25 – 1985, 1999
22 – 2016, 2018
21 – 1990, 1998
20 – 1996, 2019
 
In Northwest's 3-0 win over Purdue Northwest, the Bearcats recorded its second-highest hitting percentage in a match in the history of its program. Northwest hit .494 with 42 kills and four attack errors on 77 total swings. It ranks as the eighth-best single-match hitting performance this season among all NCAA Division II teams.
 
For the eighth consecutive year and 15th time overall, the Bearcat volleyball team earned the American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award. Northwest also tallied the AVCA Team Academic Award Honor Roll for the fifth straight year with a GPA ranked among the top-25 NCAA Division II schools. The Bearcat volleyball team recorded a 3.80 cumulative team grade point average during the 2020-21 season. Northwest is one of 161 NCAA Division II schools to gain the AVCA Team Academic Award this year.
 
Tenth-year head coach Amy Woerth ranks No. 3 in Bearcat coaching history with 146 career victories, trailing only Sarah Pelster (1991-2002) with 199 wins and Pam Stanek (1977-1981) with 176 triumphs. Woerth is 144-111 as the Bearcats' head coach.
 
The Bearcats posted a 14-3 mark this past spring during an abbreviated schedule of MIAA foes.
 
The Bearcats have named Hallie Sidney, Alyssa Rezac and Maddy Ahrens as their team captains for the 2021 season. Sidney will miss the 2021 season as she recovers from an injury.