ALVA. OKLAHOMA - Northwestern Oklahoma State Volleyball played their first of three matches this weekend on Friday evening against Southwestern College. The Rangers came out firing, building an early lead and not looking back for a 3-0 match win.
The Rangers improved to 5-5 on the season following the team's second straight win.
The Rangers were led by Erika Asencio Soriano with nine kills, Ece Ozdemir with five aces and two blocks, Hennesys Lalane with 19 kills, and Asencio Soriano with eight digs.
After a 3-1 Southwestern lead the Rangers quickly switched the momentum as Mariela Jimenez had her first kill of the match assisted by Hennesys Lalane. This was the first of seven straight points as a service ace by Karsyn Smith gave Northwestern an 8-3 lead. Northwestern had three of the next four points from Ece Ozdemir's kill for an 11-5 lead. Erika Asencio Soriano followed with a kill as the Rangers continued to build the lead. After leading 16-11, Erika Asencio Soriano fired off a kill starting a 5-0 run after back to back service aces by Ece Ozdemir, as the Rangers built a double digit advantage at 21-11. Southwestern answered with a 5-0 run to bring it back down to 21-16 but the Rangers closed out the set from there with four of the next five points as Ivanny Blackwood had back to back kills for the 25-17 set victory and a 1-0 match lead.
In set two the Rangers were the first to score with the first two points of the set on an error followed by a service ace from Brianda Diaz. Southwestern responded with three straight points to take a 3-2 lead. With set two tied at 4-4 Ece Ozdemir started a run giving the Rangers a 7-4 advantage ending on her service ace. Southwestern was able to climb back and tie set two at 10-10. The Rangers rebuilt the lead with a 6-0 run started by Ozdemir that continued with a block from Ozdemir. Mariela Jimenez gave the Rangers a 19-11 advantage. Northwestern closed out the set two victory after the score was 22-14 and an error started a 4-0 run as two kills by Erika Asencio Soriano gave the Rangers a 25-14 set two victory and a 2-0 match lead.
The third and last set was started by a kill for Erika Asencio Soriano assisted by Brianda Diaz as the Rangers scored six of the first seven points for a 6-1 lead as Ivanny Blackwood had a kill followed by a Mariela Jimenez block. Northwestern led 8-5 before a 3-0 run built an 11-5 lead. Hennesys Lalane started the next Ranger's run going in front 16-9 following a Lalane service ace and a couple of Moundbuilders errors. Ivanny Blackwood and Ece Ozdemir had a block as Northwestern extended the lead to 20-12. Northwestern, continuing to control the match, had two straight kills and an ace as the Rangers finished a 25-16 set victory along with a 3-0 match lead.
Northwestern plays two matches on Saturday, the first one starting at 11:00 AM against William Jewell College followed by one at 3:00 PM against Tabor College.
