Dakota Wesleyan at Northwestern

• PREVIEW
• BOXSCORE

Game Time... Fifth-ranked Northwestern goes for its eighth straight win this evening as they play host to Dakota Wesleyan in a GPAC volleyball match. The Red Raiders are 6-0 and in first place in the GPAC while the Tigers are 1-5 in the conference, 11-12 overall. You can tune in to the match via the Red Raider webcast at the following link: Listen/Watch Now!

Scouting Report... The Tigers come into tonight's match with an 11-12 overall record but just 1-5 in the GPAC. DWU opened the season with a 3-1 record at the Red Raider Classic and followed with three more wins in four matches to improve to 6-2. The Tigers then went 1-6 over their next seven matches. Most recently, they are 4-4, including a pair of GPAC losses last weekend to Morningside (3-1) and Briar Cliff (3-0). Their lone conference win was a 3-0 victory over Mount Marty on Sept. 25.

Head Coach Eric Viney is in his second season with the DWU program after a 13-22 last year. They tied for 10th in the GPAC with a 3-13 mark and lost four players off that squad, including both setters, libero Dena Kopfmann (2nd team all-GPAC) and middle hitter Maria Weineke, their leading hitter.

Returning for Coach Viney's squad are middle hitters Jayna Morrill and Jen Miner and outside hitter Ashley Kley. A 5-10 senior, Morrill is hitting a team-best .229 this season, putting down 1.5 kills per set, third best on the team. She also has a team-high 58 blocks. Miner, a 5'11 junior, ranks second on the team with 2.3 kills and hitting percentage (.217) and is third in blocks (34). On the outside, Kley leads the team with 3.2 kills per set and is second in digs (2.9). Kacie Sanderson, a 6-1 sophomore, averages 1.2 kills per set and ranks second with 50 blocks. Newcomer Carina Fesenmaier, a 5-10 setter who transferred from Ridgewater College, is the full-time setter and lofts up 8.5 assists per set. She leads the team with 27 ace serves and averages 1.8 digs per set. Junior Amye Brown took over the libero duties this season and leads the team with 3.3 digs per set and has 21 ace serves.

DWU is hitting .172 this season compared to .169 for their opponents.

Last Time Out... Dakota Wesleyan completed a tough weekend at home with a 3-0 Great Plains Athletic Conference loss to Briar Cliff University at Fosness Arena in Mitchell. The Chargers won by the scores 25-21, 25-22, 25-17. The Tigers' were led by Ashley Kley’s 14 kills and 10 digs. Jen Miner added 10 kills and a team-high 18 digs and Carina Fesenmaier had a match-high 33 assists and 11 digs. Amye Brown and Brooke Warne each had 12 digs for the Tigers and Jayna Morrill had three total blocks.

Hillary Hanno registered a season-high 25 kills and hit .553 in leading the Raiders to a 3-1 win over Midland Lutheran last Saturday night. The Raiders hit .363 and totaled 65 kills for the match. Hanno totaled 25 kills and just four errors in 38 attack attempts. Bobbie jean Rich added a season-high 12 kills and hit .611 while Randa Hulstein (11) and Jennifer Jansen (8) were the other top hitters. Kaitlin Beaver guided the Raider offense with 58 assists and added two kills and one ace serve. Randa Hulstein totaled 15 digs while Rylee Hulstein and Janna Bloemendaal added 12 digs each.

The Series... Since 1990, the Raiders hold a 19-1 advantage in the all-time series, including a 3-0 win over the Tigers on Sept. 9 in Mitchell, S.D. Hillary Hanno led the offense with 11 kills on the outside, posting a kill efficiency of .214. Bobbie jean Rich and Randa Hulstein added eight kills and Jennifer Jansen added seven kills, hitting .385 for the three sets. Kaitlin Beaver lofted up 30 assists and went 14-for-15 from the service line. Northwestern hit .271 for the match and held the DWU offensive attack to just a .091 kill percentage. The Raiders totaled 11 blocks, led by Rich with five and Jansen with three. Defensively, Janna Bloemendaal led the way with 13 digs and was perfect (16/16) in serve receive while Randa Hulstein added 11 digs. Both Delainye Hardersen (11/11) and Heather Goehring (9/9 with two aces) served 100%.

DWU was led by Ashley Kley with seven kills while Jen Miner added four kills, six digs and one block.

Red Raider Notes...Northwestern has won seven straight matches since a 3-2 loss to #6 Georgetown (Ky.) on Sept. 19. During the win streak, NWC defeated ranked teams Bellevue (3-2) and Georgetown (3-1) along with four wins against GPAC teams.

Coach Van Den Bosch's squad is hitting a league-best .305, averaging 13.5 kills per set. Both Randa Hulstein (3.9 kills, .398) and Hillary Hanno (4.1 kills, .331) rank in the league's top five in both stat categories. Hulstein ranks fifth in the GPAC averaging 1.1 blocks per set. Both players were named GPAC players-of-the-week earlier this season. Rylee Hulstein averages 2.1 kills and 2.4 digs per set on the outside. Bobbie jean Rich (1.3) and Jennifer Jansen (1.1) are the other top hitters for NWC. Kaitlin Beaver ranks second in the GPAC putting up nearly 11 assists per set. The two-time GPAC Setter-of-the-Week ranks third on the team with 29 ace serves.

Northwestern ranks second in the conference in ace serves (155), led by Heather Goehring (34) and Randa Hulstein (33). Janna Bloemendaal leads the defense averaging three digs per set. In the Raiders win over Midland Lutheran, Bloemendaal surpassed Kelli Vermeer for fifth place all-time in career digs with 1,669. Randa Hulstein (2.6) and Delainye Woudstra (2.6) are the other top backrow players for Coach Van Den Bosch.

Up Next...The Raiders will play Concordia on Friday night in Seward, Neb. followed by a match-up with Hastings on Saturday afternoon.