Home / Volleyball

2008 Season Review

RAIDERS EARN THIRD STRAIGHT TRIP TO
THE NATIONAL TOURNAMENT

Orange City, Iowa--- Coming off a banner year in 2007 in which the Red Raiders qualified for the national tournament for the second straight year and reached the Elite Eight for the second time in school history, expectations were high in 2008. Head Coach Kyle Van Den Bosch’s squad returned all but two starters heading into the season and with several talented newcomers coming in, the Raiders looked primed to make another strong run at the national tournament.

The Raiders faced a very challenging schedule that featured over 10 matches against teams ranked in the top 25. Northwestern began the season in impressive fashion, winning the first six games without dropping a single set and moved up to fifth in the NAIA poll. “We had a great start to the season with all of our experience coming back,” commented Van Den Bosch. Northwestern suffered its first loss of the season to second-ranked Concordia (Calif.), 3-2, in the final match of the College of St. Mary’s Classic 2008teamand faced GPAC rival Morningside on the road in its very next match. The Raiders won the top 10 showdown, 3-1, to gain an early advantage for the conference championship.

The Raiders battled to a 4-5 record to finish the non-conference portion of their schedule as they faced four ranked teams and a road test at NCAA D-I University of South Dakota. “We had a stretch during the middle of our schedule in which we lost some really close games to outstanding teams. It really helped us though later on in the season.” After losing 3-2 to sixth-ranked Columbia (Mo.), the Raiders rattled off 14 consecutive wins to capture the GPAC regular season championship with a perfect 16-0 record. It was their first conference title since 1999, sealing a spot in the 32-team NAIA national tournament.

The Raiders won their first two games in the conference tournament to extend their win streak to 16 but were defeated by Morningside in the GPAC championship 3-0. Ranked 10th in the final NAIA poll, the Raiders earned a first-round bye in the national tournament and qualified for pool play at the final national tournament site. They opened with an impressive 3-0 win over Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) and followed with a thrilling, come-from-behind 3-2 win over unseeded Walsh (Ohio). Guaranteed a spot in the 10-Hanno actionteam single elimination tournament, the Raiders lost their final pool play match to Concordia, 3-0, but advanced to play Bellevue (Neb.) in an elimination match. Behind 28 kills from outside hitter Hillary Hanno (Sioux City, Iowa), Northwestern defeated the Bruins 3-1 to advance to the Elite Eight for the second straight year. Van Den Bosch’s squad fell to second-seeded Biola (Calif.) in the quarterfinals to finish the season with a 30-9 record. Hanno received all-tournament accolades for her play. “Nationals was a fantastic tournament for our team and I thought we were playing our best volleyball at the end of the season,” commented Van Den Bosch.  

Five players earned all-conference honors, led by Randa Hulstein, who was named the GPAC player of the year. Sophomores Kaitlin Beaver (Sioux Center, Iowa) and Hillary Hanno were also named to the first team. Rylee Hulstein (Sioux Center, Iowa) earned second team honors in just her first season with the Raiders, and Janna Bloemendaal, a junior libero from Orange City, Iowa, was named honorable mention. Randa Hulstein, who was also named first team NAIA All-American, ranks second all-time in school history with 581 total blocks. Beaver received third team All-American honors while Hanno was named honorable mention. The Raiders also excelled in the classroom, being named a Scholar Team by the NAIA. Two players, Delainye Hardersen (Hinton, Iowa) and Kayla DeGeest (Spencer, Iowa), were selected as NAIA Scholar-Athletes.