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2009 Season Review

NWC VOLLEYBALL TEAM REACHES NEW HEIGHTS IN 2009

The Northwestern College volleyball team had another outstanding season in 2009. Returning all of its top players from a 2008 season in which they won the GPAC regular season title, qualified for their third straight national tournament and reached the quarterfinals for the second consecutive year, expectations were high for Head Coach Kyle Van Den Bosch’s squad. Ranked fifth in the NAIA preseason poll, the Raiders seemed poised to make another strong postseason run, and Van Den Bosch’s squad did not disappoint in 2009. Northwestern repeated as conference champions, going a perfect 16-0 for the second straight year and increasing its GPAC win streak to 42 games. The Red Raiders made it a clean sweep as they won the postseason championship as well, capturing the title for the first time since the 1996 season. Ranked third nationally, Northwestern went into the national tournament with an impressive 20-match win streak and continued its dominant play, winning pool C with a 3-0 record. Advancing to the quarterfinal round once again, Northwestern was upset by unseeded Lee (Tenn.) 3-1 to end the year with a 36-3 record, matching the program’s best winning percentage for a 2009teamseason (.923).

For the 15th straight year, Northwestern opened its season at home in the Red Raider Classic, where Coach Van Den Bosch’s squad finished with a 3-1 record. After three 3-0 wins, the Raiders closed the Classic with a 3-2 loss against fourth-ranked Azusa Pacific. Northwestern followed with a 4-0 mark at the College of St. Mary’s Classic and then opened conference play with a 3-0 record, defeating Dakota Wesleyan, Dordt and Mount Marty. The Raiders then competed in the Holiday Inn Express Classic, hosted by Olivet Nazarene, where they had to face three ranked teams. They opened with a 3-1 win over the host team and followed with two more wins over Freed-Hardeman and #13 Bellevue. In yet another showdown with a top 20 team, the Raiders lost to sixth-ranked Georgetown (Ky.) in a classic five setter (3-2).

With a 13-2 record and ranked sixth in the most recent poll, Northwestern closed the regular season with a perfect 17-0 mark, winning the conference title with a sparkling 16-0 record for the second straight year. Most impressive was the fact that the Raiders dropped just one set during the streak and climbed all the way to second in the NAIA top 25, the highest ranking since the 1994 season. The Raiders opened postseason play as the GPAC tournament’s number one seed and made quick work of Sioux Falls, disposing of the Cougars 3-0. A 3-1 win over rival Dordt followed in the conference semifinals and a match-up with 18th-ranked Doane was the only thing in the way of the Raiders’ first postseason tournament championship since 1996. In front of several hundreds of fans, Coach Van Den Bosch’s squad knocked off the Tigers, 3-0, to win the postseason title.

Northwestern, assured of a first round bye in the NAIA volleyball championship, was seeded third in the 24-team final site tournament field in Sioux City. The Raiders began pool play with a 3-0 win over Shawnee State, but, trailing 2-0 against Indiana Tech in the second match, rallied to a 3-2 dramatic win to remain unbeaten in pool play. They closed with a solid 3-0 win over Biola to earn a bye into the quarterfinals where they lost to unseeded Lee, 3-1, to end the season.

RandaThe Raiders ended the year with a 36-3 record, the fourth most wins in the program’s history. They also won 23 straight matches during the year and have won 42 straight conference matches, one of the longest streaks in the NAIA. Individually, six players earned all-GPAC honors, including Randa Hulstein (Sioux Center, Iowa), who was named GPAC player of the year for the second consecutive year.  Juniors Kaitlin Beaver (Sioux Center, Iowa) and Hillary Hanno (Sioux City, Iowa) also earned first team honors while junior Bobbie jean Rich (Tilden, Neb.) and Rylee Hulstein (Sioux Center, Iowa) were named to the second team and Janna Bloemendaal (Orange City, Iowa) was named honorable mention. Coach Van Den Bosch received conference coach of the year honors for the third straight year as well. Three players, Randa Hulstein (1st team), Beaver (1st team) and Hanno (2nd team), were named NAIA All-Americans and Beaver and Delainye Woudstra (Hinton, Iowa) earned NAIA Scholar-Athlete honors. Randa Hulstein closed her four-year tenure as the school’s all-time leader in total blocks (724) and solo blocks (183), and fourth in kills (1,760). Bloemendaal finished her career as the school’s leader in digs (1,830).