Women's Volleyball Thursday, November 3, 2022 NWC Athletic Communications

Volleyball to Host Dakota Wesleyan in GPAC Quarterfinals

The two teams split the regular season meetings, NWC winning tiebreaker to host

ORANGE CITY, Iowa – After a grueling Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) 16-match regular season schedule, the No. 4-seed Northwestern College Red Raiders (21-6, 11-5 GPAC) and the No. 5-seed Dakota Wesleyan Tigers (21-6, 11-5 GPAC) meet in the GPAC Quarterfinals for the second-straight season Saturday night inside the Bultman Center on the campus of Northwestern College.

"Being one of the 4 hosts in our conference tournament means you had a good regular season," said head coach Kyle Van Den Bosch. "We know this will be a very high-level conference tournament so to get the first match at home is important. We have had two great matches with DWU this year so I am sure this one will be no different."

HOW THEY GOT HERE
Entering the final week of the regular season, the two teams knew a rematch of the 2021 GPAC Quarterfinals was certain. However, the official seeding and location, came down to the final night on Tuesday evening. The two squads split the regular season meetings, both teams defending their home floor. Both teams ended the regular season with identical overall and league records (21-6, 11-5 GPAC), forcing a tiebreaker scenario to determine the seeding. Per GPAC volleyball sport regulations, the first tiebreaker is to compare number of sets on in the regular season meetings, in which saw Northwestern win four of the seven sets played.

REGULAR SEASON MEETINGS
September 14 | (18) DWU 3, (7) NWC 1 | Mitchell, S.D.

Dakota Wesleyan was able to defend their home court back in September, as Northwestern was able to take the first set of the night but dropped the next three inside Fosness Arena on the campus of Dakota Wesleyan University. Overall, it was an offensive-heavy show as both teams hit over .200 (.209-.207, DWU); though the Raiders had the total kill advantage (58-52).

Alysen Dexter (So., Urbandale, Iowa) led the match with 21 kills, followed by double digit kills from Jazlin De Haan (So., Orange City) and Bekah Horstman (Sr., Pella, Iowa) with 14 and 10, respectively. Jadeyn Schutt (Sr., Orange City, Iowa) notched a team-high three service aces and Horstman had a match-high six blocks.
The match also was the day Horstman tallied her 500^th career block in a Red Raider uniform.

October 26 | (6) NWC 3, (9) DWU 0 | Orange City, Iowa
The rematch in Orange City saw the Red Raider defense shut down Dwight and company as Northwestern downed the Tigers in straight sets. The Raiders held a statistical advantage in every main team category in the match, completing controlling the match from start to finish, hitting at a clip of .184 on the night.

Northwestern held the Tigers to just .084 hitting on the night in the regular season rematch, holding Dwight to just seven kills at a .172 clip. As usual, it was Dexter (15) and De Haan (13) who led NWC offensively, the only two athletes in double figure kills in the match. Freshman Liv Reitsma (Papillion, Neb.) dished out a match-high 39 assists in the win.

NORTHWESTERN NOTABLES

Olivia Granstra was named NAIA Defensive Player of the Week following her play on the court against (9) DWU and (22) Dordt.
Northwestern at the net has been tremendous all season long, sitting tied for fourth in the NAIA in blocks per set (2.52).
The block party is led by Horstman who leads the GPAC and is third in the nation in blocks per set (1.33), being just one of four GPAC athletes to notch 110+ blocks on the season.
In the GPAC, NWC sits second in service aces (173) and third in both hitting percentage (.234) and total blocks (235) on the season.
Dexter leads the league in service aces with her 56, 14 more than second-place (Ellie Holen, UJ, 46).
De Haan (328) and Dexter (323) fight for the team-lead in kills this season.

SCOUTING THE TIGERS

DWU lost at home for the first time this season on Tuesday (Nov. 1) when they fell 3-1 to No. 2-ranked Jamestown.
The loss forced the tie with the Red Raiders in the league standings, giving NWC the tiebreak with winning four of seven sets played on the year.
Ady Dwight is the Player to Watch for the Tigers, leading the team in kills (475) and blocks (109).
Dwight leads the GPAC in kills (475) and kills/set (4.70), being the star of the show for Dakota Wesleyan this season.
Her 109 blocks are tied for fifth in the league, being one of six GPAC athletes to notch 100+ total blocks on the season.
Madeline Else leads the GPAC in assists (1,184) and is second assists/set (11.72), as she is just one of two GPAC athletes to notch 1,000+ assists on the year.
Libero Hanna Reiff is one of four athletes to notch 500+ digs this season with her 542 sitting third in the conference, while notching 5.37 digs/set (3^rd).

RED RAIDERS IN THE GPAC TOURNAMENT

NWC has been a strong contender in the GPAC tournament under the direction of head coach Kyle Van Den Bosch.
Under him, the Raiders are 23-14 all-time in the conference tournament, including a 23-5 mark inside the Bultman Center.
VDB has three GPAC tournament titles to his name in his 17 seasons at the helm.
NWC's all-time conference tournament record sits at 33-9 (.786) on their home floor.

TICKET INFORMATION
Admission will be charged for admission into the Bultman Center. There is not an advance ticketing option, all tickets are sold at the gate.

Adults will be charged $10, K-College students will be charged $3, and children under the Kindergarten age will have no charge. All GPAC students will receive free admittance to the matches with the showing of their institutional ID. All faculty and staff at GPAC schools will be required to pay for entry, per the conference office.

Only NAIA passes will be accepted at the gate, no institutional passes will be accepted for the entirety of the conference tournament.

GPAC TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

Quarterfinals – Saturday, November 5
No. 1-seed Jamestown vs. No. 8-seed Dordt (7:00 PM, Jamestown, N.D.)
No. 4-seed Northwestern vs. No. 5-seed Dakota Wesleyan (7:00 PM, Orange City, Iowa)
No. 3-seed Concordia vs. No. 6-seed College of Saint Mary (7:30 PM, Seward, Neb.)
No. 2-seed Midland vs. No. 7-seed Hastings (7:00 PM, Fremont, Neb.)

Semifinals – Wednesday, November 9
Winner of Jamestown/Dordt vs. Winner of Northwestern/Dakota Wesleyan
Winner of Concordia/College of Saint Mary vs. Winner of Midland/Hastings

Championship – Saturday, November 12
Semifinal winners at highest remaining seed

GAME INFORMATION
Saturday's match will be held inside the Bultman Center on the campus of Northwestern College. For live stream, match notes, and live stats, visit nwcraiders.com or navigate to the links above.

The winner of the match will go on to face the winner of No. 1-seed Jamestown (28-2, 15-1 GPAC) and No. 8-seed Dordt (13-11, 7-9 GPAC) on Wednesday, November 9 with the highest remaining seed hosting the match.

Don't forget to follow Northwestern College Athletics on Facebook @nwcraiders, Twitter @nwcraiders, and Instagram @nwcraiders! #RaidersStandOut

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