Hillary Hanno belted down a match-high 17 kills and hit .267 for the match in leading the Red Raiders to a 3-1 win over Dordt in the GPAC semifinals played Wednesday night in the Bultman Center. Northwestern, ranked third in the final NAIA poll, won its 19th straight match and improved to 32-2 overall. They advance to the GPAC Championship match Saturday night where they will host third-seeded Doane at 7:30 pm. Dordt drops to 26-12 on the season.
Northwestern opened up an early lead in the first set and led by as much as four (14-10) before a 7-2 run by Dordt gave the Defenders their first lead, 17-16. After a Raider timeout, NWC regained control with the next four points and went on to win the first set, 25-22.
The second set was a carbon copy of the first for awhile with Northwestern jumping out to the early lead (13-10) only to have Dordt come back to take the lead at 15-14. The Defenders, however, continued to roll and extended their advantage to 20-16 before NWC used its final timeout. Northwestern cut the lead back to two (22-20) but lost 25-21.
Tied up at one set each, Northwestern jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead only to have Dordt fight back to take a 10-9 advantage. Both teams battled back and forth until NWC seemed to pull away with a 20-17 lead. Dordt tied it up at 20 but the Raiders responded with a 4-2 run and served for the set at 24-22. Dordt, however, came back with three straight points and served for set point, 25-24 and again at 26-25. Northwestern tied it at 26 and later, with the score tied at 27, a kill by Hillary Hanno and an ace serve by Kaitlin Beaver on set point gave the Raiders a 29-27 win.
With a 2-1 lead, Northwestern continued the momentum from the third set and led 11-6 early on. Holding their biggest lead of the night at 18-10, Dordt rallied one more time to cut it to three, 19-16, forcing a NWC timeout. Northwestern, however, closed the match on a 6-2 run and won the final set, 25-18.
Both teams hit 18% for the match. In addition to Hanno, Randa Hulstein tallied 16 kills, 12 digs, five blocks and four ace serves. Rylee Hulstein added 12 kills and a team-best 17 digs. Kaitlin Beaver lofted up 40 assists and totaled 11 digs. Hanno and Delainye Woudstra had 15 and 14 digs, respectively. Northwestern served 84% for the match with 11 aces.
Dordt was led by Brittany Landegent with nine kills followed by Danae Geels and Kendra Potgeter with eight.
Northwestern hosts Doane this Saturday night at 7:30 pm in the GPAC Championship match.
2007 media guide
