ORANGE CITY, Iowa – The No. 21-ranked Northwestern College volleyball team (18-10, 9-7 GPAC) is set to compete in Sioux City at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) national championship for the fifth-straight season as pool play gets under way on Tuesday, November 30 at the Tyson Events Center.
 
Northwestern will compete against the No. 5-ranked College of Saint Mary Flames (26-5, 13-3 GPAC) and the No. 12-ranked Eastern Oregon Mountaineers (26-7, 19-3 CCC) in this year's pool play. Pool F is the only pool to feature two Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) institutions in the eight available pools. All seven of the GPAC teams that qualified for the Opening Round have advanced to the final site in Sioux City, Iowa.

Northwestern Red Raiders
The Raiders enter the national tournament in arguably the toughest conference in the nation at the NAIA level. Finishing with a 9-7 mark in league play and earning the No. 5-seed in the GPAC tournament under 17^th year head coach Kyle Van Den Bosch, the Raiders earned the right to host an Opening Round contest for the second consecutive season.
 
Northwestern has been led all season by GPAC Freshman of the Year Alysen Dexter (Urbandale, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) who leads the team with 378 kills on the season, averaging 3.67 kills per set. Horstman leads the team with a .349 hitting percentage on the season, making good on most opportunities she has to put balls away for Northwestern. Defensively, senior Emily Strasser (Sioux Falls, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian) paces the team with 476 digs, while also sitting second on the team in service aces with 36. Jadeyn Schutt (Jr., Orange City, Iowa/MOC-Floyd Valley) and Olivia Granstra (So., Sheldon, Iowa/Western Christian) have shared setting duties in the Raiders' rotation this season, as Schutt has tallied a team-high 639 assists and Granstra tallied 411 assists. Schutt also led the team with 43 service aces.
 
Northwestern played host to the Cougars of Indiana University Kokomo in the Opening Round back on November 20. Taking the Cougars down in straight sets led by the dominant play of First Team All-GPAC middle hitter Bekah Horstman (Sr., Pella, Iowa/Pella Christian) who led the match with 15 kills on a .560 hitting percentage, and recorded seven blocks. Dexter was the other Raider who paced the seemingly unstoppable Raider attack with 11 kills. Coming out of the Opening Round, the Raiders led all Opening Round matches with a .382 team hitting percentage as the Raiders came ready to play inside the Bultman Center.
 
Horstman has also been a menace at the net on the defensive side, notching 131 blocks this season with 23 of them being solo blocks. Macay Van't Hul (So., Rock Valley, Iowa/Western Christian) and Katie Peters (Jr., Le Mars, Iowa/Gehlen Catholic) have also contributed to the blocking party on the season, tallying 90 and 75 blocks, respectively.
 
The Raiders hold a record of 2-10 against teams that have punched their ticket to the final site as most of those losses came in tough five-set losses in conference play this season.
 
College of Saint Mary Flames
Originally tabbed to finish sixth in the GPAC Preseason Coaches' Poll, the Flames have shocked everyone putting together a nice resume under fifth-year head coach Rick Pruett. Putting together a 26-5 overall record, the Flames worked their way up to being ranked No. 5 nationally, after being ranked No. 23 in the NAIA Preseason Coaches' Poll. Amidst the tough competition of the GPAC, the Flames continued to make a name for themselves this season putting together a 13-3 league record and taking the No. 2 seed in this year's conference tournament.
 
The Flames only regular season conference losses were to currently ranked No. 1 Jamestown (3-1), No. 9 Midland (3-0), and Hastings (3-2). Their only regular season non-conference lost was to No. 2-ranked Viterbo (Wis.) 3-1. Entering the conference tournament, the Flames took down No. 7-seed Mount Marty in straight sets in the Quarterfinals, before being tripped up by a scrappy No. 6-seed Concordia (Neb.) in a five-set thriller.
 
The Raiders and the Flames met back on October 15 inside the Bultman Center on the campus of Northwestern College. The College of Saint Mary would leave with a very hard fought five-set victory, as the Raiders will be prepared to battle them again in Sioux City. Horstman set a new career-high with 25 kills in the match, Dexter also recorded double digit kills with 13. Horstman also recorded a career-high 11 blocks to pace the Raiders.
 
CSM has a very balanced offensive attack with four athletes that all have 200+ kills on the season for the Flames, led by senior outside hitter Makenna Freeman with 296 kills (2.67 kills/set). The three other Flames with 200+ kills include Rosa Reed-Bouley (283), Kamryn Willman (260), and Elizabeth Dlouhy (226). Senior setter Dani Prusha leads CSM in two offensive categories, 1,161 assists and 41 services aces, all in 114 sets played this season.
 
Defensively for the Flames, Willman leads the charge at the net with 115 blocks on the season (1.03 blocks/set). Sophomore Rachel Cushing leads the team with 640 digs (5.47 digs/set) on the season so far.
 
College of Saint Mary played host to Florida National University an independent NAIA institution affiliated with the Continental Athletic Conference (CAC). The Flames took care of business, also winning in straight sets (25-17, 28-26, 25-14).
 
The Flames are 6-3 against teams that have qualified for the national tournament, with their only losses coming to Jamestown, Midland, and Viterbo (Wis.). All six of their victories came against fellow GPAC teams that have also punched their ticket to the final site.
 
Eastern Oregon Mountaineers
The Mountaineers are led by 15^th year head coach Kaki McClean Morehead and hail out of the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC). Morehead led the Mountaineers to a 26-7 (19-3 CCC) mark this season, and will enter the Final Site as the No. 12-ranked team in the NAIA.
 
Eastern Oregon has one game under their belt against a GPAC opponent when the Defenders of Dordt University hit the floor with the Mountaineers back on August 27 in Caldwell, Idaho. Dordt prevailed in five sets (25-23, 22-25, 25-21, 15-25, 16-14). Against top-25 competition this season, Eastern Oregon holds a mere 2-6 record.
 
The Mountaineers attack is led by junior outside hitter Cambree Scott who has 309 kills in EOU's 115 sets played (3.41 kills/set). Senior Brenna Shaffer comes into the final site just shy of 300 kills, sitting at 298 (2.94 kills/set). Sophomore Sade Williams – an outside hitter and right side for the Mountaineers - rounds out the top-3 attackers with 279 kills. Freshman Alexis McMurtrey has stepped in seamlessly into the college scene, carrying the load of Eastern Oregon's assisting duties, holding 801 assists on the season. Fellow freshman Hailey Arritola is a threat when she's up to serve, having a team-leading 46 service aces this year.
 
Defensively, defensive specialist and libero Arritola leads the team in digs as well with 557 on the year, holding a stout receiving percentage of .948. At the net, Scott, who leads the team in kills, also leads the team in blocks with 144 but only 10 of them have been solo blocks. Senior Jet Taylor has joined Scott in many block assists this season, the only other Mountaineer north of 100 blocks on the season (111).
 
Like both Northwestern and the College of Saint Mary, Eastern Oregon also won their Opening Round match. The Mountaineers played host to Columbia International (S.C.) and took care of business in straight sets (25-15, 25-13, 25-20).
 
The Mountaineers are 3-7 this season against teams that qualified for this year's national tournament, as all their matches have been against teams that have advanced to Sioux City.

Pool F Schedule
Tuesday, November 30

1. College of Saint Mary vs. (3) Northwestern – 10:30 a.m. | Court 3
2. Eastern Oregon vs. (3) Northwestern – 5:00 p.m. | Court 3

Wednesday, December 1

1. College of Saint Mary vs. (2) Eastern Oregon – 1:00 p.m. | Court 1

First serve for the Raiders is set for 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning against the College of Saint Mary. Northwestern will then turn around and face the Mountaineers of Eastern Oregon at 5:00 p.m. Both matches will take place on Court 3 at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa. The winner of the pool will advance to the quarterfinals, knock out style, bracket play.