by Madison Parrot, Athletic Communications
Northwestern Oklahoma State University Rangers volleyball dropped a tough loss against out-of-conference opponent Colorado State University-Pueblo Tuesday evening.
The match started and ended in CSU-Pueblo’s favor, with the Rangers dominating the middle half.
Jennifer Eubanks had herself a game with nine kills. She also led the team in blocks with seven total in the match. Kiauna Clark continued to show off with a team-leading 11 kills, and Sydnee Miller led the team in digs with 27.
The first set the Thunderwolves seemed to show off on their home turf.
The Rangers began the first set in the lead but fell behind quickly after an 8-0 point run from CSU-Pueblo. Northwestern was too far behind to catch up and dropped the first set 11-25.
Colorado State-Pueblo appeaed to carry the momentum from the last game as they took a 7-2 lead, but the Rangers took the second set 25-23.
An interesting back-and-forth battle happened in the third set as the Rangers and Thunderwolves each have their own five-point run. A final slam by Eubanks secured the win and allowed NWOSU to take the set 25-21.
Neither team could take control of the fourth set. Both the Thunderwolves and the Rangers traded points through the entire match.
However, CSU-Pueblo stayed just enough ahead to take the set 21-25 to send the match to the fifth set tiebreaker, the Rangers third in as many games.
The fifth set was a nail-biter with seven ties and seven lead changes with a fifteen-point match.
It was evenly matched as the Rangers earned 8 kills to the Thunderwolves 9. A final attempt with a service ace from Miller was not enough to take the set as CSU-Pueblo snatched it with a score of 11-15.
Northwestern will come back to GAC play as they return home to take on Henderson State this Friday at 6 p.m.
The game will be a part of Homecoming week for the Rangers and their first of two on the weekend.