By Oaklee Fielder, Sports Editor
The NWOSU volleyball team had two home games, one against Southern Nazarene University and the other against Oklahoma Baptist University.
The game against SNU ended in a 0-3 victory for NWOSU
The first set was a 22-25 victory for the Lady Rangers. Northwestern had the upper hand in the first part of the set, but started to struggle in the middle. The Lady Rangers locked in at the end and ended the set with a point for Northwestern.
The second set ended with a 22-25 victory for NWOSU. It started almost the same as the first, with Northwestern earning points quickly at the start of the set. Eventually, SNU started keeping up with them, although Southern Nazarene was down by multiple points. SNU eventually caught NWOSU, taking the lead 15-14 by winning five points in a row. Northwestern turned around and did the same thing. They won five straight points and put SNU right back where they were in the points deficit. The two teams traded points towards the end, and NWOSU won the second set.
The third set was a definite NWOSU victory, 12-15.
The Lady Rangers started with six straight points to get the momentum rolling early. Southern Nazarene only scored back-to-back twice in the final set. Northwestern seemed to have put the hammer down, and they shut SNU down, destroying them by 13 points in the end.
Ece Ozdemir was the NWOSU kill leader, with 17. Tess De Zanet had 11. Mikayla White had the most assists, with 30. Jadyn Padilla had the most digs, with 10.
The second game did not go as well for the Lady Rangers. Oklahoma Baptist defeated NWOSU 3 sets to 0.
OBU seemed to have shown their skill early in the first set, as they scored six unanswered points to start the first set. NWOSU fought back and eventually got within one point of the Lady Bison, and later tied it at 11 and 12. Then, Oklahoma Baptist put their heads down and ran away with the lead and won the first set 25-18.
The second set started better for NWOSU. The two teams battled closely and kept it within one point until, when the two teams were tied 6-6, OBU ran away again. The Lady Bison got up to six points away from Northwestern, and they didn’t stop there. Oklahoma Baptist matched NWOSU’s every point, and they won the second set 25-17.
With the momentum in OBU’s favor, the Lady Bison looked to close out the third set and win the match.
The Lady Bison and Lady Rangers fought hard at the start, matching each other in points, and neither team running away. The two teams traded having the lead multiple times in the early and middle parts of the set. Eventually, OBU took the lead by five points and seemingly killed NWOSU’s momentum. The Lady Bison won the final set 25-19 and the match 3-0.
NWOSU’s next match is against Southwestern Oklahoma State on Thursday. That is their only game of the week.