ALVA, Okla. –Northwestern Oklahoma State University women's volleyball team fought a battle against Newman University Tuesday night as they hosted their first game back in Percefull Fieldhouse. The Rangers improved their record to 2-3 on the season and showed their talent in an exciting back-and-forth battle with 18 ties and 8 different lead changes.

The Black-and-Red worked hard to take down the Jets as they lost the first set and then took the next three in Ranger-like fashion [23-25, 25-12, 26-24, 25-17]. NWOSU had a stellar performance with 57 kills, 6 aces, 8 blocks, and a serve reception percentage of .943 in 66 attempts.

The comeback win was led by senior Kiauna Clark who earned 15 kills with an attack percentage of .419, she had two service aces and had a 1.000 serve-receive percentage in 17 attempts. Kaitlyn Robinson led the team in assists with 41, with a .353 set percentage and had two service aces of her own. Sydnee Miller led the team in digs with 17.

The Black-and-Red couldn't find a rhythm at the beginning of the first match as they traded points with Newman. The Jets then pulled away with a score of 18-10. Kate Deterding pushed the team into gear with five kills, but Newman stayed just out of reach taking the first set 25-23.
 
Northwestern came back with a vengeance in the second set with two or more hits from six different Rangers. Clark started the game off with a service ace and added five kills to her total on the night. The Black-and-Red pulled away to as much as an 19-8 lead and finished the game with a win, 25-12.
 
The Jets returned to the court in the third set with a bit more fire and went point for point with the Rangers through most of the game. There were 12 different tied scores and five lead changes in the third set alone as both teams refused to surrender.
 
NWOSU seemed to pull away 24-18 but a 7-0 run from the Jets tied it up 24-24. An untimely error from Newman and a smash from Honeycutt allowed Northwestern to win 26-24.
 
NWOSU pulled away again in the fourth set to slam the door closed on Newman with a .346 team hit percentage. Back-to-back kills from Clark and Honeycutt followed by an ace serve from Robinson allowed the Rangers to pull away 10-5. A huge slam from Clark ended the set, 25-17 and they took the entire match 3-1.
 
Northwestern Volleyball is scheduled to play Newman again in their next match at the Tiger Classic in Hayes, Kansas Friday morning at 9 a.m. followed by a 5:30 p.m. match against Western Colorado University.
 
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