No.5 Northwestern College opened pool play with a 3-0 sweep (25-21, 25-15, 25-21) over (RV) Lourdes (Ohio) in a match played tonight at the NAIA Volleyball National Championship held at the Tyson Events Center.

Northwestern is 1-0 in pool play heading into Wednesday night's match against 21st-ranked Bellevue (Neb.). The Red Raiders improve to 29-4 on the year, one win shy of their 15th 30-win season in program history. Lourdes, now 0-1 in pool play, is 22-12 on the year. 

A.J. Horstman put down a match-high 11 kills and tallied 15 digs to lead the Red Raiders. The sophomore hit .219 for the match and registered her fifth double-double of the season. Makenzie Fink added nine kills and nine digs while Lauryn Hilger totaled eight kills, five digs and three aces. Lacey Wacker put up 32 assists and a career-best 15 digs for her fourth double-double of the season while directing a Red Raider offense that hit .186 over the three sets.

How It Happened...

    Set One:
    A pair of kills by Horstman and one by Hilger helped the Red Raiders get out to a 5-2 lead; Lourdes came back strong and using an 8-4 run, grabbed its first lead
    (10-9) following a kill by Chelsea Lawrence. 

    Northwestern grabbed the lead back after a missed serve by Lourdes and kill by Kiel; the Red Raiders managed to stay in front by 1-3 points over the next while until Lourdes scored three straight to go back up by one (19-18), forcing a Red Raider timeout.

    Van Den Bosch's squad regrouped and closed with a 7-2 run, winning the final two points on blocks by Blankespoor/Horstman and Hilger/Kiel to take the first set, 25-21.

    Set Two: 
    After falling behind early by one, Hilger served three straight aces to ignite a 6-0 Northwestern run to take the lead for good 11-6. Lourdes would get as close as three (13-10) but a 5-1 surge put the Red Raiders back in control as they won the second set 25-15.

    Northwestern hit its best (.240) in set two and held Lourdes to -5%.

    Set Three:
    Northwestern got off to its best start, scoring the first five points and raced out to a 13-4 lead after a kill by Fink. Lourdes scored nine of the next 11 points, however, and fought back to get as close as two (15-13) but the Red Raiders pushed the lead back to five (21-16) and finished off the Gray Wolves, 25-21.

By the Numbers...

Northwestern held Lourdes to a -10% kill efficiency (18 kills, 19 errors, 101 attacks); this is the third time the Red Raiders held an opponent in the negatives this season (Waldorf and Concordia)

The Red Raiders totaled 10 blocks, fourth most this season; Blankespoor was in on six blocks and Hilger, Horstman and Kiel all registered three assisted blocks

Northwestern served seven aces compared to two for Lourdes; this was the 26th match that the Red Raiders had more aces than their opponent

Horstman has hit for double figures in 17 matches, second most on the team (Kiel-26)

This was the 24th win all-time at the championship for the Red Raiders, who improve to 24-26 in their 13 trips to the championship

Northwestern improves to 1-1 all-time against Lourdes

The Gray Wolves were led by Genessee Tate and Emily Arnold with four kills each; Angelica Dippold led the backrow with 15 digs