KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Rockhurst University Hawks pulled off a 3-0 sweep of the Northwest Missouri State University volleyball team in the first of two meetings between the two programs this weekend.
Rockhurst scored set victories by 25-23, 25-18 and 25-7. Rockhurst moved to 4-4, while Northwest dropped to 3-5 on the season. The Bearcats have lost five straight matches.
Rockhurst totaled 41 kills and hit .376. Northwest posted 31 kills with a .100 hitting percentage in the three-set match.
Northwest put together a late first-set push, cutting the Hawks' 24-19 lead to 24-23 on kills by
Natalie Herrington,
Sophia Gartner and
Gabrielle Gartner and a
Mya Karrick service ace. Earlier, Northwest recovered from a 2-0 start by the Hawks with a
Jada Smith kill, a
Gabrielle Gartner kill and a Smith-
Maddie Roenfeld block to move in front 3-2, then later built a 16-12 advantage after a Roenfeld kill and a Hawks setting error. The Hawks answered with 10 straight points to go from 16-12 down to 22-16 ahead, with Northwest facing four attack errors, a service ace and multiple Hawks kills in that stretch.
Jada Smith ended that run with a kill from Karrick, and Northwest continued to respond late before the Hawks closed the set 25-23 on a service error.
The Bearcats stayed within range deep into the second set, but the Hawks won four straight points after the Bearcats pulled to 17-15 and went on to take the set 25-18. Earlier,
Abby Bulthuis opened the set with a service ace, and Northwest answered a 4-1 deficit with a
Jada Smith kill from
Gabrielle Gartner and a Hawks setting error to tie it at 4-4. Roenfeld,
Sophia Gartner and Herrington helped keep the Bearcats in repeated ties and one-point swings, with Gartner kills putting Northwest ahead 7-6 and 8-7. After the Hawks moved in front 13-10, a block by Herrington and Smith, a
Gabrielle Gartner kill from
Ellery Luhring and another Hawks attack error brought Northwest back within 14-13 before the Hawks created the late separation. Herrington added kills at 23-17 and 24-18, but the Hawks closed the set on a Victoria Gray kill.
In the third set, Northwest was put in an early deficit, as the Hawks answered
Elle Heckenlively's kill with 10 straight points, including two Chloe Tyrrell service aces, to move from 3-1 to 13-1. Heckenlively stopped that stretch with another kill from
Londyn Smith, but the Hawks followed with four more points, three coming on Northwest attack errors, to make it 17-2.
Sophia Gartner helped put together a three-point response later, recording kills from Karrick and
Lauren Schnettler around a bad set by the Hawks as the visitors moved from 19-3 to 19-6. Gartner added another kill from Karrick to make it 22-7, but the Hawks scored the final three points and took the set 25-7.
Sophia Gartner led Northwest with 10 kills while hitting .320. Karrick finished with 22 assists, two service aces and five digs. Herrington added five kills on eight attacks and one block assist. Luhring recorded eight digs and two assists.
Northwest and Rockhurst will meet again Saturday at 2 p.m. in Kansas City.
