By OAKLEE FIELDER
The Lady Rangers faces three teams while in Kentucky, and had a conference game when they came back to Oklahoma, winning two and losing two.
The three teams the volleyball team faces in Kentucky were William Jewell College, the University of Nebraska at Kearney and Hastings College. After their trip to Kentucky, they faced Southern Nazarene University in Bethany.
Northwestern won their first game, lost their second, won their third and lost their fourth.
The Lady Rangers defeated William Jewell easily, with the first set going to NWOSU 25-10. The Cardinals won set two 25-17. Then, Northwestern won sets three and four to finish off the game. Tess De Zanet had the most kills with 17. Ivanny Blackwood had five blocks and two aces. Jadyn Padilla had 25 digs.
Game two for the Lady Rangers was not as successful. Kearney swept Northwestern and didn’t allow the Lady Rangers to earn more than 14 points in a single set. In set one, Kearny won 25-9. Set two was 25-14 and set three was a disastrous 25-6.
The Lady Rangers seemed to be unable to find a way to block Kearney, as they only had two throughout the game. De Zanet and Kemelly Baez Miecznikoski had the two lone blocks. De Zanet had the most kills again with eight. Katie Wadas had nine digs, 11 assists and one ace.
Game three was much easier for the Lady Rangers, as they turned around from being swept to sweeping their next opponent. Northwestern took down Hastings 3-0. Set one wasn’t very close, with Northwestern winning 25-15. Set two was the closest with the ending score being 25-22 for NWOSU. Set three wrapped it up with a win for the Lady Ranges 25-19, winning the game.
De Zanet continued to lead in the kills as she had 15 against Hastings. De Zanet also had two aces and seven digs. Baez Miecznikoski had seven blocks. Padilla had 16 digs and seven assists.
The Lady Rangers came back home to Oklahoma and faced Southern Nazarene University on enemy territory. The Lady Rangers won the first set, but were unable to find another set win and lost the game 3-1. Each set was incredibly close as neither team scored less than 20 points in any set.
The loss against SNU shouldn’t dampen the Lady Rangers’ spirits. On any other day, they could have come home with the win just as easily as they took the loss. It was a hard fight against the conference rival, but the team that won was just better on that day.
De Zanet led in kills again with 16. Blackwood was a close second with 14. Wadas had 31 assists. Padilla had 29 digs.
Next for the Lady Rangers will be Southeastern Oklahoma State University at home on Thursday. Then, they face Oklahoma Baptist on Tuesday at Shawnee.