By CONNOR GRAY, Student Reporter
Northwestern’s volleyball team competed in the Great American Conference postseason tournament after finishing regular season.
Head coach Fred Aubuchon’s Lady Rangers finished with a 9 – 6 record on the year. The team finished third in the western division of the Great American Conference with a record of 5 – 5 in conference play. Oklahoma Baptist University and Southwestern Oklahoma State University finished ahead of them in the final regular season standings in the western division.
Northwestern battled throughout the season and the tournament, leading to a back-and-forth win for Northwestern over Southeastern Oklahoma State University in the first round of the Great American Conference volleyball tournament on April 6.
Prior to the postseason tournament, the Lady Rangers played Southeastern twice during the regular season. The two teams first played on March 16 and played each other again on March 27. In both of those matchups, Northwestern swept the Savage Storm, winning both games in three sets.
In the opening round of the 2021 Great American Conference volleyball tournament, the win almost slipped away from the Lady Rangers.
In the fifth set, Southeastern scored 14 points to Northwestern’s 10 points. The Savage Storm needed one more point to win the game. Northwestern then went on a six-point scoring streak, giving them the win and advancing to the next round of the tournament.
Kate Deterding led Northwestern with 20 kills in the game. Avery Osburg assisted 42 of the 54 kills in the game.
Sydnee Miller, a senior libero for the Lady Rangers, said she was happy the team came together during the April 6 win.
“We worked together as a team at the end,” Miller said. “We realized that if we didn’t come together, we would lose in the first round.”
The Lady Rangers traveled to Weatherford to play against Southwestern in the second round of the tournament on April 8. Northwestern was swept by the Bulldogs; the loss ended the Lady Rangers’ season.
“This is not how we wanted to end our season, but in the players, you have to bring your best, and unfortunately, we didn’t tonight,” Aubuchon said about the game in an article released by Northwestern’s Athletic Communications on April 8.
The Lady Ranger players were ranked individually in the Great American Conference for statistics on the year. Kaydee Honeycutt, a middle hitter/outside hitter for the Lady Rangers, ranked second in kills per set with 3.65. Deterding finished fifth with 3.16 kills per set.
Honeycutt finished in third place for points scored per set with 4.21. Deterding was not far behind Honeycutt in the rankings, finishing in sixth place with 3.58. Ravyn Burns, a middle hitter for the Lady Rangers, finished in second place for blocks per set with 1.21.
When it came to assists, Northwestern’s Osburg led the Great American Conference in the total assists statistic with 506 assists on the year. Honeycutt led the conference in total kills during the season with 213 kills. Miller finished top three in total digs on the year with 287 digs.
Aubuchon said he is proud of the team because of what the players have had to deal with — especially his seniors, whom he spoke highly of.
“I’m excited with what they do next in their lives and what they are going to do, but we would’ve loved to have them back for another year,” Aubuchon said.
Kortney Cunningham, an assistant coach for the volleyball team, and Aubuchon will be improving the team for next season, Aubuchon said.
“We’ll be needing to rebuild our back row with losing Sydnee Miller and Kate Deterding as our primary players,” Aubuchon said. “[I am] also excited to revamp our offense that revolved around two fantastic hitters, but I think we will be looking at a balanced attack for next year.”