Emily Van Ginkel set career-highs in both kills and blocks to lead No.9 Northwestern to a 3-1 win (25-21, 25-17, 23-25, 25-23) over Briar Cliff tonight at the Bultman Center. The Red Raiders sweep the season series against the Chargers and push their win streak to five matches heading into the final week of the regular season. Northwestern improves to 12-2 in conference play, 21-5 overall and Briar Ciff drops to 5-9 in the GPAC, 11-12 overall. 

Van Ginkel powered down 15 kills and eight blocks, hitting .542 for the match and setting a career-best number of kills for the second consecutive match. Lauryn Hilger recorded her team-leading 11th double-double of the season with 16 kills and 10 digs and Makenzie Fink added 11 kills, giving Head Coach Kyle Van Den Bosch's squad three players in double figures. 

Northwestern hit well over 30% for the 12th time this season, posting a .362 kill efficiency, and owning a commanding 13-4 advantage in blocks. Lacey Wacker put up 52 assists while orchestrating the Red Raider offense. Emily Strasser anchored the backrow play with 21 digs and three ace serves.

Set One...

Wacker began the match with an ace serve as the host Red Raiders jumped out to a 6-1 lead. Up 9-3 later following a kill by Van Ginkel, Briar Cliff came back with a 4-0 run to make it a two point game. Both Ann Pater and Hilger came back with 3-0 service runs to spark another Red Raider surge as the hosts went up 21-12. Northwestern held off a late BCU rally to win the first set 25-21. 

Set Two...

Northwestern had control for the duration of set two, opening up a 7-2 lead after a kill by Fink. Van Den Bosch's squad extended their lead to 20-10 after a 7-2 run as they went on to go up 2-0 in sets with a 25-17 win.

Set Three..

An early 3-1 advantage for Northwestern quickly turned after Briar Cliff scored seven of the next points to take an 8-4 lead. The Chargers remained in front by as much as six (21-15) until a 5-0 Northwestern run, finished off with an ace serve by Pater and block by Van Ginkel, made it a one point game. The teams traded points there after as a kill by Chargers outside hitter Courtney Schafer gave her team the must-win set, 25-23.

Set Four...

Briar Cliff came out firing and opened up an early lead in set four, 9-6. Northwestern slowly came back, and, after a kill by Fink, grabbed its first lead of the set 13-12. The set was tied seven times thereafter, the final at 19, until a Chargers' service error put the Red Raiders in front for good, 20-19. Successful attacks by Fink, Hilger and Van Ginkel helped clinch the final set for the Red Raiders.

By the Numbers...

Josie Blankespoor totaled eight kills and a career-best three blocks; Bekah Horstman had seven kills in 14 attacks to go with 2.5 blocks

Northwestern hit for a higher percentage than BCU in all four sets

Victoria Gonzalez led the Chargers with 18 kills and Courtney Schafer put down 12

The win clinched a home quarterfinal match for NWC as they secured a finish among the top four in the final regular season standings