ORANGE CITY, Iowa -- Northwestern College's volleyball seniors simply refuse to lose.

Paced by two-time Great Plains Athletic Conference player of the year Randa Hulstein, a 6-1 senior middle hitter, the third-ranked Red Raiders of Coach Kyle Van Den Bosch have reached the NAIA national tournament in each of the last four years.

Hulstein, who collected 467 kills, 307 digs, 133 blocks and 54 ace serves for the Great Plains Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament champions, is one of four seniors for a 33-2 squad (16-0 GPAC) that has compiled a 127-29 record in the last four seasons. Libero Janna Bloemendaal along with her fellow senior classmates, defensive specialists Delainye Woudstra and Kristin Kooima, have also made contributions for a program that in their four years, has gone 60-4 in the GPAC and has never finished below second place in the conference standings.

Van Den Bosch's Red Raiders have also reached the Elite Eight at each of the last two NAIA national tournaments.

"That was my first recruiting class and they've been a fun group," smiled Van Den Bosch, whose squad is seeded third heading into action which starts with pool play Tuesday at the Tyson Events Center.

"They've been special with me from the beginning. Not only have they had lots of success on the court, they're great young women to be around. They've set the foundation for things.

"Couple that with three really good juniors (outside hitters Hillary Hanno and Bobbie Jean Rich along with setter Kaitlin Beaver), it's been a fun run for this group. They've played together so long, it's like they're all in the same class. We've seen lots of different levels of competition over the years, hopefully it pays off. They've been to this arena before, so they're focused at the task at hand."

Bloemendaal has 359 digs for Northwestern, which will open Pool C play at 8:30 Tuesday night against Shawnee State (31-3), a team that went 12-0 while winning the American Mideast Conference championship.

Indiana Tech (33-8), which won the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference with a 14-0 record, will face Northwestern at 8 p.m. Wednesday. The Red Raiders, who are making their ninth overall national appearance, will close pool play with an 8 p.m. match Thursday against 10th-ranked (and seeded) Biola, which enters the match with a 22-9 record.

A year ago, in the first-ever NAIA national tournament at the Tyson Events Center, Biola beat the Red Raiders in the quarterfinals.

Hanno leads Northwestern with 476 kills. Rich has 142 kills. Beaver has dished 1,323 assists in an attack that also features 6-foot sophomore outside hitter Rylee Hulstein (254 kills).

Woudstra has 320 digs and 28 ace serves while Kooima has 55 digs and 29 ace serves for a squad whose only two losses are to nationally-ranked Azusa Pacific and Georgetown, which are seeded fourth and seventh, respectively. However, Northwestern avenged the loss to Georgetown as the fourth win in a streak of 20 consecutive match victories heading into the tournament.

"The first year these seniors were freshmen, they didn't make it out of pool play, but the last two years, we've made the Elite Eight," said Van Den Bosch, whose father Tom is the head volleyball coach at Dordt College.

"This group is definitely determined to make that step past the quarterfinals. There's a lot of challenges ahead and to get to the Elite Eight, you have to be steady in serving, passing and be able to side out efficiently. I'm excited to see what the Lord has in store for us."