12th-ranked Northwestern powered past College of Saint Mary 3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-10) in a GPAC match-up played tonight in Omaha, Neb. The Red Raiders improve to 8-2 in conference play, 17-5 overall. 

Northwestern hit .305 for the match and totaled 12 blocks, one shy of its season-high, in limiting the Flames to a 10% kill efficiency.

Lauryn Hilger floored a match-high 16 kills in 32 attempts, hitting .375 in the three-set match. Makenzie Fink put away nine kills, hitting over .500, and added five assisted blocks. Emily Van Ginkel totaled six kills and four blocks and Bekah Horstman accounted for two kills and eight blocks. 

Set One...
Northwestern went on a 6-1 run early to take control in the opening set. Tied at two, a couple of errors by College of Saint Mary followed by kills by Fink, Hilger and two by Van Ginkel forced the hosts into a timeout down 8-3. Northwestern stretched the lead to as many as eight (20-12) and defeated the Flames 25-19.

Set Two...
The Red Raiders fell behind at the start (3-0) and were down 17-13 to force Van Den Bosch to use a timeout. Still down 23-18 and out of timeouts, Northwestern scored the final seven points to earn the come from behind win. Horstman was in on three blocks during the decisive run while Hilger put down a kill and Lacey Wacker served an ace to help the rally. 

Set Three...
With the momentum strongly in their favor after the come-from-behind win in set two, Northwestern led from start to finish in a 25-10 final set win. Up 5-4 early, Northwestern outscored the Flames 7-1 to pull ahead 12-5. In front 19-10, the Red Raiders closed the match with the final six points, getting two kills from Van Ginkel and one each by Fink and Josie Blankespoor.

By the Numbers...
This was the 10th match that Northwestern hit better than .300.

Lacey Wacker put up 32 assists and served three aces; Emily Strasser anchored the backrow with 16 digs. 

College of Saint Mary was led by Makenna Freeman with 15 kills, Payton Robley added 13.