By PIPER GALLAGHER
Student Reporter
The Lady Rangers defeated the Savage Storm 3-2 with a comeback win in last Thursday’s volleyball match, but lost Tuesday 3-2 to Southwestern.
The loss broke a six-game winning streak with the loss Tuesday. The Rangers are now 6-6 for the season and 2-1 in conference play.
On Thursday the Lady Rangers started the first set by giving up the first point of the match to Southeastern Oklahoma State University in a service error, and from there went on a 3-point run.
The first set went back and forth until the end, when Northwestern gave up five consecutive points to Southeastern, costing them the set. Erika Asencio Soriano led the first set in number of kills for the Rangers with four, and Hennesys Lalane had seven assists.
The second set went to the Rangers who were looking to bounce back after the first set. Macy Shreffler opened the set up with two kills back-to-back After the team pushed to the lead early in the set, a kill by Asencio ended the match 25-14, evening the overall score 1-1.
In the third set, the two teams went back and forth until the score was 11-11, when the Savage storm was able to take away six straight points.
The Rangers tried to battle back but after another scoring run later in the set, the Savage Storm was too far ahead and ended the match at 17-25.
The Rangers had to battle back in the fourth set, after letting the Savage Storm take an early lead. Down 7-15, the Rangers needed a comeback. Shreffler had five kills that helped turn the momentum around and closed this set out 25-23.
The final set began with the Rangers taking the first two points of the set with an attack error from the Savage Storm and a block from Carmae Jones. Southeastern then pulled away with seven straight points to make the score 12-5.
The Rangers were once again faced with a comeback scenario. After a kill from Mariela Jimenez started the momentum for the Rangers, Northwestern went on a massive 10-point run to close out the set 15-12 and win the match with a final score of 3-2.
Asencio led the team with 16 overall kills, followed by Jimenez with 14. Lalane had 44 overall assists in this match and Brianda Diaz had 26 digs. The Rangers have yet to lose a conference game and have a six-game win streak and look to continue that momentum into their next games.
Head Coach Jon Bingesser attributed the win to their ability to stay calm and do the little things right.
“After reliving the game and rewatching it, I was just really proud and impressed at the fact that we stuck to our game plan through all five sets,” Bingesser said, which was “just sticking to what we’re doing and not worrying about things that don’t matter.”
As the team had to battle back during sets, he had more advice for the team.
“There was a time where we were down and during a timeout, I looked at our middle and I said, ‘you, block’,” he said. “I looked at our server and ‘you, serve it in.’ I looked at our DS [defensive specialist] and ‘you, defend’. And just literally kept it simple but direct and the girls bought into that.”
NWOSU 2, SWOSU 3
The Rangers started out strong Tuesday and won the first two sets, 25-23 and 25-22.
Then Southwestern found its power and finished the next three sets 25-11, 25-18 and 15-8.
Despite the loss, the Rangers saw good performances. Erika Asencio Soriano, a senior outside hitter, had 14 kills and two blocks. Macy Shreffler, a senior outside hitter, had 10 blocks. Ece Ozdemir, a redshirt junior outside hitter, had seven kills, three aces and three blocks. Mariela Jimenez, a senior middle, had six kills, one ace and two blocks.
The team travels to Shawnee Thursday to face Oklahoma Baptist, which is 1-3 in GAC play.
