BETHANY, Okla. – Ranger volleyball picked up two key victories over Pittsburg State and Fort Hays State to open up the MIAA/GAC Challenge hosted by Southern Nazarene University.

Game One
The Northwestern Oklahoma State volleyball team used tenacious starts in two key set victories to earn a 3-1 victory over Pittsburg State in the opening match of the MIAA/GAC Challenge.

The Rangers (6-5, 0-1 GAC) jumped out to a 13-5 lead in the opening set and a 15-5 lead in the fourth set to gain crucial victories in each game. The victory over Pittsburg State (3-8, 0-0 MIAA) snaps a five game losing streak for Northwestern and moves them back over .500 for the season.

Those early set leads allowed the Rangers some room for comfort in the critical first and fourth sets. Northwestern cruised to a 25-18 first set victory following the quick start to move ahead 1-0 in the match.

A back-and-forth second set saw the Gorillas score the final five points of the set to take a 25-22 victory and square the match up at 1-1. The third set saw the back-and-forth play continue as neither team was able to pull ahead early as the score was deadlocked at 10 points apiece moving into a Gorilla timeout.

Northwestern finally got the ball rolling and rattled off seven straight points to extend the biggest lead of the set out to 20-14. Two kills from junior Hannah Williams combined with an attack error on Pittsburg State sealed the 25-17 victory in favor of the Black-and-Red.

The aforementioned quick start to the fourth set allowed the Rangers to regroup after their second set loss and close out the match in dominating fashion. The 15-5 run was followed up by an eventual 5-1 run in favor of the Rangers that closed out the set and the match with their first victory of the tournament.

Williams was once again joined on the offensive attack by sophomore Jennifer Eubanks, who raises her fourth-best season hitting percentage in the conference with a .542 number in the match. Williams provided 15 kills while Eubanks complimented Williams' effort with 14 kills in 24 total attacks.

Redshirt sophomore Kiauna Clark continued to fill up the stat sheet as she has done all season with eight kills, 31 assists, and 10 digs. Junior Brooklynn Hesson led the way with 16 digs and nine kills, while classmate Tobi Barker also chipped in on the defensive effort with 12 digs herself.

Game 2
The Rangers continued their stellar play in the second match of the day and came away with a dominating 3-0 sweep against Fort Hays State.

Northwestern (7-5, 0-1 GAC) committed just 11 errors in the contest compared to the Tiger's (6-6, 0-0 MIAA)  28 and capitalized on some timely offense from the combination of Eubanks and Hesson. Eubanks continued her hot streak and provided a .455 hitting percentage for head coach Jeremy White's squad. Hesson also attacked at an efficient pace, posting a .429 number with 11 kills on 21 total attacks.

Fort Hays State opened the match with an 8-4 lead in the first set, but six straight scores for the Black-and-Red vaulted them ahead. The Tigers answered with a steady stream of offensive attack, netting the score up at 19 apiece before a timeout from coach White set the stage for five straight Ranger points to take the first set 25-21.

The second game proved to be an all-out battle, with both teams battling up to yet another 19-19 tie late in the match, before a service ace from Williams and a kill from Clark finished a four-point run to take the second set 25-21.

With a sweep in mind, the Rangers trailed all the way up until the 19-17 mark of action before an 8-1 run in favor of Northwestern sealed a 25-20 third set victory and their fifth sweep of the season.

Up Next
Northwestern will continue play in the MIAA/GAC Crossover on Sep. 16 with matches set for 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.