By Megan Maharry
Sports Editor
The Northwestern Oklahoma Lady Ranger volleyball took care of business at the Gorilla Classic tournament in Pittsburg, Kansas.
After starting off with a 7 game winning streak, the Lady Rangers fell in a close match to Chadron State University.
However, it was the only match the Lady Rangers lost as they defeated Cameron University, and swept both Christian Brothers
University and Pittsburg State University.
The Lady Rangers opened their first match against Cameron University with a 3-1 win.
The Lady Rangers fell behind early in the first set, 8-2.
After a quick timeout from Head Coach Jeremy White, the Lady Ranger offense jumped to life, quickly bringing the score to a tie at 22 all.
Senior Brooklynn Hesson shut down the first set with a kill, claiming the 25-22 victory.
The second set proved tougher for the Lady Rangers, as Cameron came out flying, taking a 14-4 lead.
Northwestern was unable to bounce back and eventually dropped the set 25-13.
However, the Lady Rangers wasted no time dominating the 3rd and 4th sets.
With a 25-19 victory in the 3rd set and a 25-19 victory in the 4th set, the Lady Rangers took the win over Cameron.
Hesson ended the game with 15 total kills.
Senior Tobi-Rae Barker scored a team high of 25 digs and sophomore Kaitlyn Robinson finished with 44 assists.
In their second game of the day, the Lady Rangers swept Christian Brothers University.
The Lady Rangers cruised through the first set, winning 25-19 and hitting a .414% clip.
The second set was closer, as the teams were at one point tied 15 all. The battle was back and forth before Northwestern closed out the win, 25-23.
The third was another back and forth battle of offenses.
The Lady Rangers pulled ahead for a moment, but Christian Brothers quickly tied the set at 15 all.
Thanks to freshman Kaydee Honeycutt’s four service aces, the Lady Rangers finished the last set victorious, 25-20.
The Lady Rangers turned around to face two more opponents on Saturday: Chadron State College and Pittsburg State University.
Chadron State handed the Lady Rangers their first loss of the season in five sets.
The Lady Rangers fell short in the first two sets, 20-25 and 21-25 respectively.
The sets were close and several times the teams were tied up.
Eventually, Chadron State ran away with the kills to seal the first two set victories.
The Lady Rangers were not going down without a fight.
They rallied back to take sets three and four, 25-17 and 25-23 respectively.
Unfortunately, their run ended with a 5-15 loss in the final set.
The loss did not hold the Lady Rangers down as they turned around to sweep Pittsburg State.
The first set was a close 25-23 victory for the Lady Rangers.
The game was tied late in the set 21-21 before three straight kills from the black and red sealed the victory. The Lady Rangers had no trouble closing out the second set, but the third set came down to the wire.
The Lady Rangers started out with a firm lead, but Pittsburg State made a comeback and eventually evened the score to 24 all.
With a block by Hannah Williams, the Lady Rangers closed out the match in sweep fashion.
Williams totaled 14 kills and redshirt junior Kiauna Clark also recorded 14 kills and four blocks.
Now 8-1, the Lady Rangers gear up for their first Great American Conference game of the season against Oklahoma Baptist University.
The game is set for Sept. 4 in Shawnee, Oklahoma.