By Oaklee Fielder, Sports Editor
The Lady Ranger volleyball team played two away and two home games over the break, losing each of them and, in total, only winning one set.
NWOSU 0-3 Henderson St.
The first set started well for the Lady Rangers; they scored seven straight points to get a 6-point lead over the Reddies. They were able to keep the lead over Henderson until the Reddies scored eight straight points to take the lead over the Lady Rangers. After trading points, Northwestern was able to get within one point, 19-20.
The Reddies just barely bettered the Lady Rangers and got to a 4-point lead, 20-24. After two points from Northwestern, the Reddies scored the one point they needed and won the hard-fought set 22-25.
The second set started just like the first, and the Lady Rangers went on a streak to have a five-point lead.
The Lady Rangers were able to keep the large deficit over the Reddies through the middle part of the set. Slowly, the Reddies had caught up, and the score was 16-15.
Northwestern then scored four straight and made it 20-15. The Reddies responded with an identical four straight, and the Lady Rangers were up by just one once again.
After trading points, Henderson State went on a streak and got to 25 before the Lady Rangers. The second set was 22-25.
The third and final set was a doozy for Northwestern. After taking the lead 2-1, the Lady Rangers gave up 17 straight points to Henderson State. After taking the lead 2-18, there was no doubt the Reddies would win the third set, and that they did. The Lady Rangers were able to cut the Reddies’ lead down by a bit, but nothing close to save the game. The Reddies won the third set 14-25.
NWOSU 0-3 Ouachita Baptist
At the start of the first, the Lady Rangers were down 1-3, but then they went on a 7-point streak to take the lead 8-3. The two teams battled hard. Every time one of them would gain on the other, the opponent would match them and bring it right back to how it was.
Ouachita was down 17-15 when they went on a 9-point streak to take the lead 17-23. The Lady Rangers fought back, but not enough. The Tigers won the first set 18-25.
Set number two started with a great battle between the teams. Ouachita Baptist scored four straight right off the bat, but NWOSU responded and crawled back up with them to make it 6-5.
The opponents continued to battle hard, not getting more than two points away from each other until Ouachita scored to be up by three.
The Lady Rangers fought back and took the lead by one, 20-19. Ouachita gave it right back to Northwestern and took the set 21-25.
The third set mirrored the last match. Some points were earned, and then the opponent ran away. With the score 7-9, Ouachita scored 10 straight to make it 7-19. It seemed to crush any momentum the Lady Rangers had as they lost to Ouachita 12-25.
Harding 3-1 NWOSU
The first set between the Bison and Lady Rangers was competitive. The teams battled until they were tied 6-6. Northwestern then went on a run and led the Bison by five.
The teams then started to trade points back and forth, fighting to gain momentum. When the score hit 15-19, the Lady Rangers turned on the afterburners and scored six straight to win the first set 15-25.
The second set was also competitive at the start. Then, Harding went on a run to be up by six. The Lady Rangers were able to fight back, but it wasn’t enough to catch the Bison. The Lady Rangers kept up with Harding, but were too far down with the time they had left to make a comeback. Harding won set number two 25-18.
The Lady Rangers had control of the set early on as they were ahead by one until Harding scored three in a row to take the lead by two.
The two teams battled hard, and then Northwestern scored seven straight to be up by four, 14-17. The Lady Rangers stayed up by three until it was 20-23, and Harding took it and ran. They went five straight to win the third set 25-23.
The fourth set was not as competitive as the others, as Harding was able to take the lead and continued to extend it until they won the fourth set 25-16, and they won the match 3-1.
Arkansas Tech 3-0 NWOSU
The match against Arkansas Tech was not as competitive as the other matches against the GAC competitors. The Golden Suns won every set by over six points.
There was a little bit of back and forth in the first set, but the Golden Suns extended their lead often and won the first set 25-13. The start of the second set went about the same.
Arkansas Tech won the first seven points and held the lead on the Lady Rangers for a good while.
Eventually, Northwestern was able to get a run going and scored five straight to get within five points of the Golden Suns, 20-15. The third set went much better for Northwestern.
The two teams battled throughout the whole set, but the Golden Suns were able to slowly inch away from the Lady Rangers. Arkansas Tech won the final set 25-17.