ORANGE CITY, Iowa – The Northwestern College volleyball team (16-8, 8-6 GPAC) fell in five sets to rival and No. 16-ranked Dordt (16-7, 8-6 GPAC) in a crazy back-and-forth top-20 Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) match inside the Bultman Center Wednesday evening.  
 
Alysen Dexter (Fr., Urbandale, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) and Bekah Horstman (Sr., Pella, Iowa/Pella Christian) would pace the Raider with 15 kills each on the evening. Jadeyn Schutt (Jr., Orange City, Iowa/MOC-Floyd Valley) assisted 27 of the Northwestern 56 kills, with Olivia Granstra (So., Sheldon, Iowa/Western Christian) picking up 23 assists.

The Defenders came out and took the first set of the match, though Northwestern had more kills than Dordt, 14-13. An 8-1 Dordt run to make it 8-2 Dordt was enough that the Raiders couldn't overcome, despite multiple attempts to claw back into the set.
 
Northwestern would respond in the second set, a complete flip of the script. With the set tied at 3-3, the Raiders would go on their own 8-2 run to make it 11-5. Dordt would try to answer that run with a 4-0 spurt of their own, but Defender attacking errors would allow Northwestern to take a 16-10 lead and force Dordt to take a timeout. Dordt would make a few more pushes, but Northwestern held all of them off to take the second set 25-18.
 
The third set proved to continue to be a game of spurts and momentum shifts, as the Raiders jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead. With the score 6-4 Raiders, Dordt pulled off a 4-0 spurt to take the 8-6 advantage. The two teams would go back and forth until Dordt took a 15-9 lead, but Northwestern battled back with four straight points to make it 15-13 Defenders, forcing a Dordt timeout. Out of the break, it would continue to go back and forth, but the Defenders would control just enough balls to take the set 25-21 – the first set of the evening that saw both teams break the 20-point mark in the set.
 
If the first three sets weren't exciting enough, set four would be even more entertaining as the Raiders would win the must-win set 26-24 to send the match to a decisive fifth set. Dordt took the first three points of the set, and took a 7-3 lead. But the Raiders would battle back to keep the match alive. Northwestern eventually tied the match at 12-12, taking the next point forcing a Dordt timeout to try and stop the Raider momentum. The Defenders would rally and take a 21-19 lead, looking to close out the match. A 4-1 Raider run would give Northwestern the 23-22 advantage. The set would again be tied at 24-24 and a block assist from Hostman and junior Katie Peters (Le Mars, Iowa/Gehlen Catholic) would seal the set victory, 26-24.
 
Dordt would take the first two points of set five, but the Raiders would draw even at 2-2. Northwestern would take a 6-4, with their last lead being 8-7 before three straight Defender points would put Dordt in control of the final set. The Raiders would battle but fall just short as Dordt would take the fifth set 15-11.

Up Next: The Raiders host Concordia (Neb.) this Saturday, October 30 and will celebrate the three seniors for their accomplishments in a Northwestern uniform. First serve is set for 5:00 p.m., pushed back due to the football game earlier in the day.