Emily Van Ginkel put down 14 kills in leading No.7 Northwestern to a 3-1 (22-25, 26-24, 25-15, 25-20) win over Dakota Wesleyan in the GPAC opener for both teams played tonight at the Corn Palace. 

Northwestern improves to 8-0 on the year and hands the Tigers their first loss of the season, falling to 8-1. 

Van Ginkel, who finished one kill shy of matching her career high, hit .500 for the match (14 kills, 1 error, 26 attempts) and registred a team-best 4.5 blocks. Emily Strasser led an inspired effort in the backrow with a career-best 33 digs to go with four aces. 

Northwestern hit .214 for the match, over .300 over the final two sets, and held the edge in blocks (14-7) and ace serves (7-2). 

First Set..25-22 DWU:
Northwestern rallied from an early six-point deficit to tie the first set at 16 following a successful attack by A.J. Kacmarynski. The set was tied four more times over the next bit as the teams traded points. Knotted for the final time at 20, DWU went on a 3-0 run to take set one, 25-22. The host Tigers hit .229 and held Northwestern to 18%. 

Second Set...26-24 NW:
Trailing by nine (14-5) and out of timeouts, Red Raider freshman Jadeyn Schutt served five consecutive points, including a pair of aces, to begin an improbable NW comeback. A couple of Northwestern errors pushed DWU's lead back to seven (19-12) but a 5-0 spurt behind the serving of Strasser and kills from Horstman and Fink trimmed the lead down to 19-17. A successful attack from Anna Wedel tied the set at 21 and a block by Van Ginkel put Northwestern in front for the first time, 24-23. Two more kills by Van Ginkel with the score tied at 24 gave the Red Raiders the win and tied the match at 1-1.

Third Set: 25-15 NW: 
Northwestern led from start to finish in winning set three 25-15. The Red Raiders took control at the net, limiting DWU to a negative hitting percentage, with a total of six blocks. 

Fourth Set: 25-20 NW: 
Northwestern sealed the win with a 25-20 victory in the fourth, hitting a match-best 34% at the net. 

Four Red Raiders hit for double figures as Wedel (13), Kacmarynski (12) and Fink (10) joined Van Ginkel with 10+ kills. Lacey Wacker put up 49 assists and Wedel notched another double-double with 14 digs. 

DWU was led by Emily Brunsing with 15 kills; Rebecca Frick added 10 kills and 11 digs.