ORANGE CITY, Iowa – Don't second guess the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) when it comes to volleyball championship season. Going 2-0 in pool play as the No. 3 seed in Pool F, the No. 21-ranked Northwestern College volleyball team (20-10, 9-7 GPAC) punched their ticket to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Quarterfinal round for the third straight season.
 
For the fifth consecutive season, the Raiders have notched 20+ wins, behind the two wins yesterday to advance to the Quarterfinal round. The Raiders will battle the defending national champions and No. 3-ranked Missouri Baptist Spartans at 7:30 p.m. inside the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa on Court 1. 
 
Head coach Kyle Van Den Bosch has led the Raiders to six of the program's seven trips to the NAIA Quarterfinals in his tenure at Northwestern, since taking over the program in 2006. Last season the Raiders faced GPAC foe Midland in the Quarterfinals, where they dropped the match 3-1. Van Den Bosch and the Raiders will look to make it to the program's first-ever semifinal appearance in program history.
 
Of the seven GPAC schools who punched tickets to the final site to Sioux City, three teams have officially punched tickets into the Quarterfinal round. The Midland Warriors could make the Quarterfinal round feature fifty-percent GPAC teams with a win over Marian (Ind.) in the their 3:30 p.m. match.
 
Northwestern Red Raiders
Northwestern was the first team this year to punch their ticket to the bracket play stage of the 2021 NAIA Women's Volleyball National Championship. As the No. 3-seed in Pool F, the Raiders came out with tons of confidence and played their best volleyball of the year. Northwestern began the day getting payback against No. 5-ranked College of Saint Mary to begin the day in straight sets (25-17, 25-16, 25-21). Later in the day, the Raiders battled a tough No. 12-ranked Eastern Oregon squad but kept up the great play, prevailing in five sets (25-22, 20-25, 25-16, 22-25, 15-8).
 
Northwestern has a team hitting percentage of .228 on the season, behind 12.2 kills per set. Of the 12 kills per set, the Raiders are averaging 11.5 assists per set. Defensively, the Raiders are notching 16.3 digs and 2.5 blocks per set.
 
The pool play matches saw other Raiders step up to play yesterday, as Eastern Oregon keyed in on stopping the arms of Alysen Dexter (Fr., Urbandale, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) and Bekah Horstman (Sr., Pella, Iowa/Pella Christian). Dexter eclipsed the 400-kill mark yesterday, now sitting at 402 kills this season. Horstman is currently sitting at 316 kills. Jadeyn Schutt (Jr., Orange City, Iowa/MOC-Floyd Valley) is closing in on the 700-assist mark on the year, sitting at 675 assists. Schutt also has 45 service aces on the season to pace the Raiders. Olivia Granstra (So., Sheldon, Iowa/Western Christian) has 452 assists.
 
Emily Strasser (Sr., Sioux Falls, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian) – who led all pool play matches with 32 digs against Eastern Oregon – has a team-high 525 digs this season. She is followed by Schutt with 270, Dexter with 267, and Granstra with 223. At the net, two Raiders now have 100+ blocks this season. Horstman has a team-high 146 blocks to her name and Macay Van't Hul (So., Rock Valley, Iowa/Western Christian) has an even 100 blocks to her credit. Katie Peters (Jr., Le Mars, Iowa/Gehlen Catholic) has 80 blocks on the year.
 
"Missouri Baptist is the defending champion and are playing really good volleyball right now. They have a really elite setter that makes them go, as well as a couple experienced attackers," said Van Den Bosch. "We will have to play physical and smart volleyball, and put ourselves in a position to win each set by making it close down the stretch. Our girls are really looking forward to the challenge."
 
Missouri Baptist Spartans
Northwestern draws a tough Quarterfinals opponent in the defending national champions of Missouri Baptist University (30-2, 9-0 AMC). The Spartans hail from the American Midwest Conference (AMC) and are led by ninth-year head coach Chris Nichols. Nichols has led the Spartans to the national tournament for the last seven seasons, as MBU has been to the national tournament 12 times in their program's history. 2020 marked the first-ever volleyball national title for the Spartans, as they also have a runner-up finish and three 3^rd-place finishes.
 
Entering the match with an overall record of 30-2 on the year, the Spartans ran the table in conference play this season. Their only losses came back in August at the Viterbo Invitational, dropping back-to-back matches against then No. 3-ranked Midland (3-2) and No. 9-ranked Viterbo (3-0). Since that August 27 date, Missouri Baptist has won out – winning 26 straight matches, including seven consecutive straight set victories to wrap up the regular season and conference tournament.  
 
The Spartans defeated No. 17-ranked Columbia College in the AMC tournament final. In the national tournament, MBU defeated Blue Mountain (Miss.) in straight sets to earn the right to return to Sioux City in attempt to defend their national title crown. Starting pool play at 8:30 a.m. yesterday, MBU battled GPAC foe Dordt and, again, won in straight sets (25-22, 26-24, 25-20). Back in action this morning in the 1v2 match, the Central Methodist (Mo.) Eagles forced a set four, but Missouri Baptist prevailed 3-1 (25-14, 25-22, 21-25, 25-21). The CMU match marked the first time the Spartans dropped a set since October 20. On the season, Missouri Baptist is 7-2 against teams that were ranked inside the top-25.
 
Graduate student Giovanna Tapigliani leads the high-powered Spartan attack with 384 kills so far this season. Fifth-year Raylyn Dodd has tallied 233 kills, followed closely by another graduate student in Isidora Stojovic who has 219 kills this season. As a team, MBU has hit at a clip of .307, averaging 14.4 kills/set.
 
AMC Player of the Year and Setter of the Year Manuela Vargas is 51 assists shy of hitting the 1,000-mark on the season (949 assists entering the quarterfinals), Shannon McLain has 286 to sit second on the team. Tapigliani and Vargas leads the team in service aces as the only two Spartans with 30+ on the season at 35 and 31, respectively.
 
Fifth-year senior Ariana Macies has 488 digs this season to lead MBU defensively from her libero position. At the net, it's Dodd with 114 blocks (12 solo) and Tapigliani with 78 blocks, Sara Klunder has 10 solo blocks, as well.
 
Day 1 Notes from Sioux City

• Northwestern was one of four #3 seeds to win a match yesterday – the only three seed to win both matches of the day. (Dordt over #2 seed Central Methodist; Montana Tech over #1 seed Marian)
• NWC was the first team to punch a ticket to the Quarterfinals
• Strasser led all matches with 32 digs vs. Eastern Oregon
• Horstman led all matches with six blocks vs. College of Saint Mary
• As a team, Northwestern had a day-high 114 digs in the five-set win over Eastern Oregon.

The winner of the match will advance to the NAIA Semifinals to square off with the winner of Concordia (Neb.) and the winner of Pool G (Midland/Marian (Ind.)) Friday, December 3 inside the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa at 7:30 p.m.