Northwestern at Concordia (CA)

• PREVIEW
• BOXSCORE
• PHOTOS

Northwestern lost its final match in pool play to third-ranked Concordia, 3-0. The Raiders advance out of pool C, however, with a 2-1 record and will play in one of four play-in matches into the quarterfinals. They will face fourth-seeded Bellevue (Neb.) on Friday morning at 11:15 am on court one. Northwestern moves on with a 29-8 overall record.

View photo gallery

Concordia controlled the first set early on, leading by as much as four (7-3, 13-9 and 15-11). The Raiders, however, came back to tie the set at 15 and took the lead at 17-16. They led by two, 20-18, before three consecutive points gave the Eagles' back the lead, 21-20. Northwestern scored two straight points and forced Concordia into taking a timeout; however, the Eagles' responded with the last four points to win the first set, 25-22.

The Eagles' took advantage of their momentum from the end of the first set and continued to roll in set two, building up a 7-1 lead. Northwestern rallied to cut the deficit to five on two occasions but could not get any closer as Concordia used an aggressive service attack to pull away for the 25-11 win.

Northwestern started fast in the third set with a 6-2 lead until Concordia came back to tie the score at eight. The Raiders scored the next four points but again, the Eagles' answered back with four point of their own to tie it 12. NWC led for the last time at 15-14 but Concordia went on a 7-1 run to take the lead for good. They went on to win the third set, 25-17.

NWC hit .084 for the match compared to .282 for Concordia. Rylee Hulstein led the attack with eight kills and recorded 10 digs, followed by Hillary Hanno with seven kills. Randa Hulstein collected five kills, five blocks and six digs. Kaitlin Beaver lofted up 21 assists and totaled three digs.

Concordia was led by Amber Ridens with 11 kills and Traci Weamer and Cassie Ells added 10 each.

Northwestern will play #4 Bellevue tomorrow morning (Friday) at 11:15 a.m. The winner will advance to the quarterfinals to play #2 Biola.

Complete Results