Northwestern College dropped its first match of the season, losing to Dordt University 3-0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-16), in a conference match-up played tonight at the Bultman Center. 

The Raiders fall to 2-1 in the GPAC, 4-1 overall; Dordt runs its record to 5-3 in conference play, 6-3 overall. 

Anna Wedel led the Raiders with 12 kills, hitting .478 over the three sets, and had eight digs. Emily Van Ginkel put down six kills and Makenzie Fink added five, all but one coming in the final set. Lacey Reitz put up 27 assists and Emily Strasser led the backrow with 11 digs.

Set One: 25-20 loss

Northwestern did not hold a lead in the opening set and trailed by as much as three early on. The Raiders managed to tie the score at 17 after successive kills from Wedel and A.J. Kacmarynski. The teams traded points as the set was tied at 18, 19 and again at 20; a Defender block by Karsyn Winterfeld and Jessi De Jager put Dordt back in front 21-20. Winterfield then closed out the set with four straight points from the service line, including one ace, to give the Raiders a 25-20 loss.

Set Two: 25-21 loss

Tied at four, Dordt went ahead for good with three straight points early in set two. The Defenders led by as much as nine (21-12) until Northwestern put together its best run of the match, outscoring the visitors 9-3 to cut the deficit down to 24-21. Dordt, however, closed out the set with a successful attack by Allison Timmermans to win the set, 25-21.

Set Three: 25-16 loss

Northwestern managed its best start, getting out to a 7-5 lead on a couple of kills from Fink and one by Taylor Meyer. Dordt rallied, however, scoring the next five points to take a 10-7 advantage and did not trail thereafter. An ace by Meyer followed by a kill from Wedel capped a mini 3-0 run by Northwestern that tied the set at 11. Dordt outscored the hosts 14-5 the rest of the way, winning the third set 25-16.

By the Numbers...

Northwestern hit 15% for the match compared to 34% for Dordt

Blocking numbers were in the Defenders favor as well, 6-5

Both teams had four aces

Dordt was led by Corrina Timmermans with 12 kills, 11 for Allison Timmermans, nine each by Brenna Krommendyk and Jessi De Jager; eight for Karsyn Winterfeld. Megan Raszler put up 43 assists for the Defenders.