Alva Review-Courier -

GOODWELL – The Northwestern Oklahoma State volleyball team continued its hot start to the 2017 campaign, cruising to back-to-back wins on Saturday to open the season 4-0. The Rangers used 14 services aces to nab their third straight sweep to open the season over Jarvis Christian College (0-12, 0-0 RRAC) by a score of 3-0, before downing the Fort Lewis College Skyhawks (3-1, 0-0 RMAC) 3-1 in the weekend finale.

Match 1

Head coach Jeremy White's squad continued their tenacious start to the season and have won all nine of their sets at the OPSU Invitational. The Rangers get off to their first 3-0 start in program history and put themselves in position to capture the tournament title with just one game remaining in the tournament.

Sophomore Jennifer Eubanks led the way for the Rangers with 13 kills while transfer Brooklynn Hesson filled up the stat sheet with six kills, four service aces, and seven digs. Northwestern hit .354 as a team and held Jarvis to a percentage of just .066.

After a solid first day to open up the 2017 season, the Rangers got off to a slow start and found themselves down early 4-2 before getting back on track quickly with six straight points of their own. Northwestern used the spark to cruise through the first set and never gave up the lead, taking the opening set 25-16.

The Black and Red posted their worst hitting percentage of the match for a set at .250, but capitalized on errors by the opposing squad to keep their red-hot momentum going.

Northwestern backed up their first set victory with their most impressive performance in a set in a long time, waxing Jarvis Christian College, 25-7, thanks to 12 straight Rangers points to close out the set. Eubanks and Hesson both produced four kills apiece during the onslaught of attack throughout the set. Freshman Zayda Butler then closed out the final four points with four straight service aces to put the Rangers on top 2-0 for the match.

Northwestern finished off the sweep by jumping out to an 11-4 lead and never looked back. Junior Hannah Williams produced two kills and then followed up the two points with two service aces to keep the Rangers on track during the heart of the set.

An early ability to close out matches with authority was once again on full display as the Rangers closed out the match with five straight points to take the third and final set, 25-10.

Match 2

Saturday afternoon's contest saw the black-and-red pick-up right where they left off against Fort Lewis College (3-0, 0-0 RMAC), jumping out to a commanding 11-3 lead. The Rangers continued to press forward, extending their lead to 21-13 before Fort Lewis was able to claw their way back into the set. But a pair of service errors by the Skyhawks gave Northwestern the first set win 25-21.

A back and forth second set saw Northwestern surrender an 8-1 run that allowed Fort Lewis to take a 22-17 advantage. A controversial scoring error by officials gave the Skyhawks a much needed point near the end of the set, giving Trying to avoid losing their first set of the 2017 campaign, the Rangers showed their “down but never out” attitude and made it a two-point game before eventually dropping the set 25-22.

Junior Hannah Williams recorded a match-high 13 kills while San Antonio, Texas, native Kiauna Clark notched 27 assists.

Coach White was able to settle Northwestern as they answered Fort Lewis with a spirited third set win 25-22, capped off by four straight points to take the come from behind victory and a 2-1 match lead.

After finding themselves down 10-9 to the Skyhawks, a trio of aces by Tobi Barker was the turning point in the fourth set as the Rangers riffled off five consecutive points to regain the lead. A strong attack by Liz Dwyer and Lauren Symmington was enough to close out Fort Lewis and give Northwestern four straight wins to start the season.

Up Next

Northwestern Oklahoma State Volleyball will return to action on Tuesday, Sept., 5 as they host Newman University (2-1, 0-0 Heartland) in the Rangers' 2017 home opener. Game time is set for 7 p.m. inside historic Percefull Fieldhouse.