Northwestern at Morningside

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Game Time... The Northwestern College volleyball team will play undefeated Morningside on Tuesday night, Sept. 9, in an early season GPAC showdown featuring ranked teams. The Red Raiders, ranked seventh in the NAIA preseason poll, are 6-1 while the Mustangs are 12-0 and ranked 13th in the preseason poll. The junior varsity will play at 6:00 pm and the varsity will follow at 7:30 pm. The match will be played in Sioux City and can be heard via the Red Raider web-cast with pregame at 7:15. listen now!

Scouting Report... The Mustangs are a perfect 12-0 this season, losing just one set to 19th-ranked Texas-Brownsville in the 12 match wins. Head Coach Rick Pruett, in his second season with Morningside, and his squad have also defeated 23rd-ranked Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) and two teams that received votes in the opening poll: Malone (Ohio) and William Penn (Iowa).

Morningside returns four starters from a 2007 record-breaking squad that won both the regular season and post-season GPAC championship. They finished with a 33-4 overall record, their best ever winning percentage in the program's history. The Mustangs qualified for regionals where they went 0-2 and ended their season. Coach Pruett's squad won the GPAC regular season title with a 14-2 record, one game better than second place and postseason tournament runner-up Northwestern.

Leading the way for the Mustangs is 6-0 senior middle hitter Amber Jarzynka, who played two seasons for Bellevue (Neb.) before transferring to Morningside last season. The third team NAIA All-American set a school record with a .420 hitting percentage and led the team with 4.1 kills per game. This season, Jarzynka is averaging 3.9 kills per set and hitting .484. Senior Catie Bobier returns on the outside for Coach Pruett's club after starting the last three years. She totaled 292 kills and 37 blocks last season and is hitting .250 in 2008. Senior setter Kali Angerman earned first team all-GPAC honors last season after setting school records with 1,710 assists (14.02 apg) and 101 ace serves. She is averaging 13.6 assists per set this season and is second on the team with 14 aces. Jericho Johnson, a second team all-GPAC defensive specialist, returns to lead the back line for the Mustangs. Johnson is serving 96% in 2008 and leads the team with 5.9 digs per set. Lindsay Hansen, a 5-9 sophomore, also returns from last year and is averaging 2.2 digs per game.

Joining the list of returners are several junior college transfers and a pair of NCAA D-II transfers. Jamie Vander Kooi, a 5-8 outside hitter who played at USD last season, is second on the team in kills (3.4) and is hitting .304. Emily Christen, a 6-0 middle hitter who started for U. of Nebraska-Kearney, is fourth on the team with 2.2 kps. Addi Radke, a 6-1 outside hitter from Oregon, is third on the team in kills (3.0).

Last Time Out... Morningside won three matches this past weekend at the CSM Tournament in Omaha, Neb. They knocked off Southern Nazarene, Ashford and College of Saint Mary all by 3-0 scores.  Vande Kooi led the way with 31 kills in the three matches while Radke posted a season best 19 kills in the match against Southern Nazarene. Angerman lofted up just under 39 assists per match.

Northwestern went 1-1 this past weekend at the College of St. Mary's Tournament in Omaha, Neb. The Red Raiders defeated Southern Nazarene (Okla.) 3-0 (25-15,25-18,25-19) and then lost to third-ranked Concordia (Calif.), 3-2 (25-22, 25-14, 26-28, 22-25, 15-7).

Coach Van Den Bosch's squad hit .229 against Southern Nazarene with 11 total blocks and .257 with 23 blocks against Concordia. Hillary Hanno led the way this weekend with 30 kills in 70 attempts and hit .290 in the two matches. The sophomore outside hitter recorded a career-high 20 kills in the Concordia match and also added seven digs per match. Rylee Hulstein recorded 19 kills and 11 digs in the two matches and hit .279. Kate Buyert added 17 kills and five total blocks while Randa Hulstein had 14 kills and a team-best 13 total blocks. Kaitlin Beaver and Rachel Gosselink lofted up 59 and 30 assists, respectively, over the weekend. Beaver added 11 kills while Gosselink served a perfect 18-of-18 with one ace. Janna Bloemendaal led the back-row with 42 digs.  

The Series... Northwestern is 5-2 in their last seven meetings against the Mustangs. Last season, the Red Raiders went 1-2, losing on their home court (3-2) in September, winning at Morningside in October (3-1) and falling in the GPAC Championship in Sioux City, 3-0.

Red Raider Notes... Northwestern comes in with a 6-1 overall record with victories over 23rd-ranked Olivet Nazarene (3-0), Black Hills State (rv: 3-0) and their only loss to third-ranked Concordia (Calif.), 3-2. The Red Raiders are hitting .301 as a team this season, led by Kate Buyert who is hitting .383 and is averaging 2.0 kills per set. Hillary Hanno leads the team in kills (3.6) and is hitting .343 while Randa Hulstein is second on the team with 2.91 kps and leads the team in blocks (1.3/set). Rylee Hulstein has posted good numbers all-around, averaging two kills, 3.3 digs and has 12 blocks. Kaitlin Beaver is hitting .255 and leads the team with 9.9 assists per set. She also has a team-best 17 ace serves. Rachel Gosselink averages 3.8 assists per set and is a perfect 25-25 from the service line with two aces. Janna Bloemendaal and Delainye Hardersen average 5.04 and 1.6 digs, respectively.

Next up... Northwestern will continue tournament play this weekend as they head to Lamoni,  Iowa to compete in the Graceland Tournament on Friday and Saturday.

Standings...