Northwestern rallies, defeats Walsh in five-set thriller
By Jerry Giese | Posted: Thursday, December 04, 2008
Northwestern's Bobbie Jean Rich and Randa Hulstein reach to try and block a hit by Walsh University Wednesday at the NAIA National Volleyball Tournament at Tyson Events Center. (Staff photo by Jerry Mennenga)
Northwestern College's volleyball team enjoyed playing Wednesday night's match at the NAIA national tournament once it finally claimed the lead.
Consecutive kills from Kaitlin Beaver and Randa Hulstein gave Northwestern an early 4-2 lead in the third set. And, from that point on, the 10th-ranked Red Raiders never lost the advantage.
"We figured if we didn't win that third game, it would be tough to make it to the next round," said Hulstein, who pounded 21 kills and added three ace serves as Northwestern rallied for a 19-25, 19-25, 25-12, 25-20, 15-11 win over Walsh in Pool C play at the Tyson Events Center.
"Once we got the lead, our passers stepped up and our hitters got it down easy," added Hulstein, the Great Plains Athletic Conference's player of the year. "It gave us so much confidence, once we got that lead. We wanted to make sure we kept it the rest of the match.
"We were playing so relaxed. Our passes were on, our servers stepped up and our hitters were awesome. Getting the lead made our job so easy."
"We started competing more in games three, four and five," said Northwestern Coach Kyle Van Den Bosch. "The first two games, we were flat and mentally tired after yesterday. I told the girls we had to serve more aggressive.
"(Walsh) was runinng a lot of quick stuff. All we had to do was get them out of their system and the way to do that was serve more aggressive."
Hillary Hanno slammed 17 kills and Kate Buyert added 11 kills for Northwestern (30-7), which improved to 2-0 in pool play and basically clinched a berth in the quarterfinals, which start Friday. Van Den Bosch's squad, which also got 52 assists and three ace serves from Beaver, will face No. 3 Concordia (28-7) in a pool match, which starts at 7 o'clock tonight.
It'll be the second meeting of the season between the two teams. Concordia, one of seven teams from the powerful Golden State Athletic Conference entered in the tournament, edged Northwestern in a five-set thriller Sept. 6 at the College of St. Mary Tournament in Omaha.
Ironically, Concordia edged Olivet Nazarene in five sets, just before the Northwestern/Walsh match.
"Both teams are moving on," said Van Den Bosch. "Basically, this is the match for getting the better seed in the quarterfinals. I expect both teams to play loose."
Walsh (30-13) looked like the loser of the two teams early in the match. Megan McDonald had 19 kills for the Cavaliers and teammate Caitlin Whealy added 11 for a squad that took a commanding 13-2 lead in the first set and went up 12-6 in the second set.
"I don't know if Northwestern expected us to come out as hard as we did," said Walsh Coach Krista Singleton. "We struggled yesterday and I'm sure they saw us. We did a good job of finishing those first two games."
Van Den Bosch switched his lineup for the third set, inserting 6-1 sophomore Bobbie Jean Rich to face McDonald, who pounded seven kills in game two. The defensive switch worked and offensively, momentum switched to Northwestern with Randa Hulstein, Hanno, Buyert and Rylee Hulstein (7 kills) swinging at will the rest of the way.
"Randa showed why she was the Great Plains Athletic Conference player of the year tonight," said Van Den Bosch. "She was aggressive with her swing and playing with confidence. When she swings hard, it gets contagious on our team. She's a special player."
"We lost our momentum in game three and we never regained it," said Singleton. "Northwestern's a fantastic team. I figured they'd come back."
Consecutive kills from Kaitlin Beaver and Randa Hulstein gave Northwestern an early 4-2 lead in the third set. And, from that point on, the 10th-ranked Red Raiders never lost the advantage.
"We figured if we didn't win that third game, it would be tough to make it to the next round," said Hulstein, who pounded 21 kills and added three ace serves as Northwestern rallied for a 19-25, 19-25, 25-12, 25-20, 15-11 win over Walsh in Pool C play at the Tyson Events Center.
"Once we got the lead, our passers stepped up and our hitters got it down easy," added Hulstein, the Great Plains Athletic Conference's player of the year. "It gave us so much confidence, once we got that lead. We wanted to make sure we kept it the rest of the match.
"We were playing so relaxed. Our passes were on, our servers stepped up and our hitters were awesome. Getting the lead made our job so easy."
"We started competing more in games three, four and five," said Northwestern Coach Kyle Van Den Bosch. "The first two games, we were flat and mentally tired after yesterday. I told the girls we had to serve more aggressive.
"(Walsh) was runinng a lot of quick stuff. All we had to do was get them out of their system and the way to do that was serve more aggressive."
Hillary Hanno slammed 17 kills and Kate Buyert added 11 kills for Northwestern (30-7), which improved to 2-0 in pool play and basically clinched a berth in the quarterfinals, which start Friday. Van Den Bosch's squad, which also got 52 assists and three ace serves from Beaver, will face No. 3 Concordia (28-7) in a pool match, which starts at 7 o'clock tonight.
It'll be the second meeting of the season between the two teams. Concordia, one of seven teams from the powerful Golden State Athletic Conference entered in the tournament, edged Northwestern in a five-set thriller Sept. 6 at the College of St. Mary Tournament in Omaha.
Ironically, Concordia edged Olivet Nazarene in five sets, just before the Northwestern/Walsh match.
"Both teams are moving on," said Van Den Bosch. "Basically, this is the match for getting the better seed in the quarterfinals. I expect both teams to play loose."
Walsh (30-13) looked like the loser of the two teams early in the match. Megan McDonald had 19 kills for the Cavaliers and teammate Caitlin Whealy added 11 for a squad that took a commanding 13-2 lead in the first set and went up 12-6 in the second set.
"I don't know if Northwestern expected us to come out as hard as we did," said Walsh Coach Krista Singleton. "We struggled yesterday and I'm sure they saw us. We did a good job of finishing those first two games."
Van Den Bosch switched his lineup for the third set, inserting 6-1 sophomore Bobbie Jean Rich to face McDonald, who pounded seven kills in game two. The defensive switch worked and offensively, momentum switched to Northwestern with Randa Hulstein, Hanno, Buyert and Rylee Hulstein (7 kills) swinging at will the rest of the way.
"Randa showed why she was the Great Plains Athletic Conference player of the year tonight," said Van Den Bosch. "She was aggressive with her swing and playing with confidence. When she swings hard, it gets contagious on our team. She's a special player."
"We lost our momentum in game three and we never regained it," said Singleton. "Northwestern's a fantastic team. I figured they'd come back."
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