ALVA, Okla. – The Northwestern Oklahoma State volleyball team rode the momentum of a long first set victory to put together their third sweep in a row, 3-0 (29-27,25-21,25-9) over Arkansas-Monticello.

The win extends the Ranger's (14-5, 4-1 GAC) winning streak to nine games and marks the best start in program history. Three Rangers reached double-digits in the kill category as sophomores Jennifer Eubanks and Hannah Williams, and junior Brooklynn Hesson drove the Ranger offense throughout the evening.

Northwestern bested the Cotton Blossoms (7-11, 1-5 GAC) with 47 team kills compared to just 29 for the visiting team. The Black-and-Red posted a team attack average of .283, including a set-high number of.545 in the third and final set.

The first set proved to be a back-and-forth affair with the Rangers struggling throughout the set to settle into the flow of the game and posted seven errors as a squad in the opening game. However, Williams posted six of her 13 kills in the set to propel the Rangers to a hard-fought victory.

Tied up at 25-25, a kill from Eubanks put the Ranger up a point before the Cotton Blossoms stalled the back-to-back kill attempt from Eubanks with a block. Williams picked up right where Eubanks left off and knocked down the crucial go ahead point after multiple long rallies for both teams late in the opening frame.
Senior LaMonica Peacock closed out the first set with a kill to put the Ranger up 1-0 and got the crowd inside Percefull Fieldhouse going.

Eubanks finished the evening with a team high 14 kills and hit.375 for the evening while Peacock had three kills and three total blocks for the match.

The Rangers rode the momentum and opened up a 10-5 lead in the third set of action before consecutive attack errors from Williams allowed the Cotton Blossoms some energy and evened the match up at 11-10, with the Rangers hanging onto the advantage. Williams rebounded from the mistakes and teamed up with Hesson to put together four kills for the home squad to extend the lead back out to a comfortable margin.

The Cotton Blossoms hung around all the way until the 21-20 mark in favor of the Rangers, but a 5-1 run at the end of the game sprung the Rangers ahead and picked up the set victory.

Hesson matched Williams with 13 kills and also led the way with 10 digs.

The third set was all Rangers as they jumped out to an early 14-4 lead and never looked back. The huge third set will prove valuable as the Rangers will get a quick turn-around before heading back out onto the floor inside Percefull Fieldhouse tomorrow afternoon against Southern Arkansas at 1 p.m.

Northwestern will look to make it 10 wins in a row before heading into the gauntlet of their schedule with upcoming matches against defending regular season champions Harding and undefeated Arkansas Tech.