BETHANY, OKLAHOMA - Northwestern Oklahoma State Ranger Volleyball traveled on Tuesday to face Southern Nazarene for the second conference match up of the season. The Rangers swept a fifth straight match 3-0 for the first time in program history with five straight sweeps.

Northwestern is now 8-5 on the season with a 2-0 conference record following the victory. This is the first five match win streak since 2019 and first win in Bethany since 2021. 

SET ONE: 

Southern Nazarene jumped on the board first with a kill by Riley Richardson to start the match with an early 1-0 lead. However the Rangers scored the next two on kills by Macy Shreffler and Ece Ozdemir for a 2-1 lead. The two teams traded points as the set featured four straight ties before the Rangers pushed some separation between the two with three straight points after a 5-5 score a kill by Ozdemir followed by a block by Ivanny Blackwood had the Rangers in front 8-5. The Rangers keeping the pressure on the Crimson Storm continued to build the lead following a kill by Ivanny Blackwood. Northwestern pushed the lead to 16-10 the largest at that point in the opening set. Southern Nazarene cut it to three, however Erika Asencio Soriano had a kill, pushing the Rangers lead back to five and forcing a Storm timeout. The Rangers holding the lead closed out the opening set win 25-20 and the 13th consecutive set victory for the Rangers. 

SET TWO:

The Rangers continuing momentum from the first set was the first on the board in set two on a kill by Macy Shreffler for the early 1-0 lead. The first block of the second set was Ece Ozdemir and Mariela Jimenz for the early 2-1 lead. After the second set was tied 7-7 Northwestern had three straight points by a Erika Asencio Soriano kill and two more by Ece Ozdemir for the 10-7 lead. Hennesys Lalane had back to back kills pushing the Rangers lead to largest of set two at 15-10, eventually moving to 16-10 following a kill by Jimenez as the Rangers forced the Crimson Storm into a timeout with a 16-10 lead. Out of the timeout the two teams traded points before the Rangers extended the lead to eight at 22-14 following a Schreffler kill. The set ended with a big time block by Erika Asencio Soriano and Mariela Jimenez to finish off the set 25-18, giving the Rangers a 2-0 match lead. 

SET THREE: 

In the third and final set the Rangers and Crimson Storm traded points in the early going as the set was tied five different times and again at 5-5, and consistently to 8-8 before the Rangers went on a quick run. Tied 8-8 a kill by Schreffler pushed the Rangers in front which was followed by blocks by Ivanny Blackwood, Erika Asencio Soriano as the Rangers led 11-8. Southern Nazarene thought out of the timeout was able to work their way back to tie the set at 15-15 following two straight kills and a Rangers attack error. After a 17-17 tie the home team was able to take a 20-19 lead over the Rangers extending that to 24-20. With the Rangers down to set point Ivanny Blackwood switched the momentum ending the Crimson Storm run giving the Rangers a point with a kill. The Rangers had three straight blocks by Jimenez and Ozdemir as the Rangers tied the set at 24-24. Rangers, looking to go in front, scored two more in a row on attack errors by the Crimson Storm for a 26-24 set victory and a 3-0 match win. 

The Rangers sealed the fifth straight match sweep for 15 consecutive set wins for the first time in program history. 

Northwestern will be home on Thursday evening with a match against Southeastern Oklahoma State with start time set for 6:00 PM in Percefull Fieldhouse.