Friday, Oct. 1
No. 13 Northwest Missouri State at No. 10 Nebraska-Kearney, 6 p.m. | LIVE VIDEO | LISTEN | LIVE STATS
 
Saturday, Oct. 2
No. 13 Northwest Missouri State at Fort Hays State, 3 p.m. | LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS
 
The No. 13-ranked Northwest Missouri State University volleyball team (9-2 overall, 2-1 MIAA) hits the road this week for matches at Nebraska-Kearney and Fort Hays State.
 
Friday's match in Kearney, Neb., will feature the No. 13-ranked Bearcats against the No. 10-ranked Lopers. UNK enters Friday's match with an overall mark of 11-2 and 2-2 in the MIAA.
 
Nebraska-Kearney holds a 20-3 lead in the all-time series with Northwest. The Lopers have won 14 straight matches against the Bearcats. Even though the matches did not count officially, Northwest and UNK met three times last spring. UNK won the first meeting in three sets. Northwest scored a 3-0 sweep in the second meeting. UNK held off Northwest in the spring MIAA tournament title match in five sets with the final being 15-13 in the final set.
 
Fort Hays State has posted an overall mark of 8-5 and 2-2 in league play. FHSU will play host to Missouri Western Friday night.
 
The Bearcats own a 20-8-1 record against the Tigers in the all-time series. Northwest has won each of the last six encounters. Northwest has won three straight matchups in Hays, Kan. This past spring in unofficial matches, Northwest recorded a pair of victories over FHSU.
 
Northwest went 1-0 this past week with a 3-1 victory over visiting Pittsburg State in Hughes Fieldhouse.
 
Sophomore Alyssa Rezac (Wahoo, Neb.) leads Northwest in assists (336 – 10.50 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 for a double-double in the four-set win. She has four double-doubles this season and five for her career.
 
Junior Rachel Sturdevant (Kansas City, Mo.) is hitting a team-best .342 this season. She hit .324 with 14 kills in helping lead Northwest to a 3-1 win over Pittsburg State at the Hughes Fieldhouse. Sturdevant tallied five kills in the first set, two in the second, four in the third and three in the fourth to move the Bearcats to 9-2 on the year. She also added two blocks and a dig vs. the Gorillas.
 
Freshman Payton Kirchhoefer (Omaha, Neb.) leads the squad in kills (144 – 3.43 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 eight double-digit kill matches this year.
 
Sophomore Jaden Ferguson (Omaha, Neb.) is hitting .275 and ranks No. 2 in the team in kills (116 – 2.76 kills/set). Ferguson is also tops on the team in blocks (28). 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).
 
Junior Hannah Koechl (Innsbruck Austria) has posted a team-best 168 digs (4.42 digs/set) through the first 11 matches of the season. She ranks fourth in the MIAA in total digs (168). She has reached double-figure dig totals in nine of the 11 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.
 
Freshman Abby Brunssen (Atkins, Iowa) produced the eight-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.
 
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 stayed at No. 13 in the latest American Volleyball Coaches' Association Division II Top 25 rankings. It marks the 27th 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.
 
This week's AVCA poll features four MIAA teams ranked in the top 13. Washburn is ranked No. 1 with 37 first-place votes. Central Missouri is ranked No. 5. Nebraska-Kearney is ranked No. 10.
Eight of the top 13 teams in the AVCA top 25 poll are from the MIAA or Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC).

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
 
With its win over No. 5-ranked Tampa, it is 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 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 144 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.