Volleyball Loses Pair In Texas To Open Season

OVERVIEW – ST. EDWARD'S/TEXAS WOMAN'S

SCORES: St. Edward's Hilltopppers 3, Northwood Timberwolves 0 (25-19, 25-16, 25-23)/ Texas Woman's Pioneers 3, Northwood 1 (18-25, 25-14, 25-19, 25-22)
RECORDS: Northwood (0-1), St. Edward's (2-0)/Northwood (0-2), Texas Woman's Pioneers (1-1)
LOCATION: Kitty Magee Arena – Denton, Texas
RECAP: Northwood opened the 2018 season at the Pioneer Volleyball Invitational Friday (August 24), falling to St. Edward's 3-0 before dropping a 3-1 match to host Texas Woman's

INSIDE THE MATCH - ST. EDWARD'S

• St. Edward's set the tone for the opening set right away, scoring the opening three points to take a lead they would maintain the rest of the set. Northwood cut the lead down to two at 11-9, but the Hilltoppers scored six of the next eight points. The Timberwolves got no closer than four the rest of the way.  Northwood had two more kills than St. Edward's (12-10), but NU committed five more attack errors (10-5) and two more service errors (4-2).
• The second set was full of runs for both teams. The Hilltoppers kept the momentum going after winning the opening set, scoring 12 of the first 15 points in the second. Northwood got things going with a run of their own, putting up 10 of the next 13 to make the score 16-13. St. Edward's made the final push of the set, however, running off nine of the final 12 points to win 25-16 for a 2-0 lead. The attack errors continued to be the big stat of the match, as NU had 10 more errors in the second compared to just two for the Hilltoppers.
• Northwood played its best set in the third, eventually leading 23-21 late. But St. Edward's made one final run to close things out, scoring the final four points of the match to earn the win.

MATCH STATS

• HITTING: Northwood: .024 (30-27-124), St. Edward's: .183 (36-15-115) 
• DIGS: Northwood 57 (Brenna Murphy – 14), St. Edward's 57
• BLOCKS: Northwood 3.0 (Carson Rutherford/Colleen Mayer – 3), St. Edward's 5.0
• ACES: Northwood 2 (Mackenzie Kepler/Murphy – 1), St. Edward's 3

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Carson Rutherford: Six kills, three blocks, 9.0 points
• Meredith Collins: Nine kills, 13 digs, 9.0 points
• Macy Lintz: 28 assists (first career match)

INSIDE THE MATCH - TEXAS WOMAN'S

• Northwood took their level of play up in the opening set against Texas Woman's. The score was tied 7-7 when the Timberwolves registered five straight points. The Pioneers got it back down to one at 13-12 and were within two at 18-16 when NU took over. NU scored seven of the final nine points to win 25-18. The Timberwolves' offense was much better in the first set, hitting .394 overall (16-3-33).
• Texas Woman's responded well to the opening set loss, bouncing back with a strong performance in the second. The Pioneers scored the first four points and six of the first seven overall. Northwood got no closer than four points after that and trailed by as many as 10 in the TWU 25-14 win. NU's offense came back down in the second, finishing with a .139 attack percentage (10-5-36). Texas Woman's offense was strong in the second, finishing at .324 (15-3-37).
• The third set was tight throughout the early stages, with the Timberwolves holding an 11-9 edge. That is when the key stretch of the set came, as the Pioneers scored 12 of the next 16 points to make the lead 22-15 on their way to taking the set 25-19. Northwood's offense improved from the second set, getting up to .205 in the third (15-7-39).
• The late stages of the fourth set proved to be the difference again. Northwood got off to a good start, opening the frame with the first three points. That proved to be the biggest advantage for either team until the final point of the match. NU's final lead came at 19-18, but the Timberwolves pulled within one three times before the Pioneers finished off a 25-22 victory. Both teams had their lowest attack percentage of the match in the final set, with NU finishing at .031 (9-8-32) while TWU hit .029 (12-11-34).

MATCH STATS

• HITTING: Northwood: .193 (50-23-140), Texas Woman's: .203 (50-23-133) 
• DIGS: Northwood 54 (Collins – 15), Texas Woman's 57
• BLOCKS: Northwood 10.0 (Mary Gallagher – 6), Texas Woman's 6.0
• ACES: Northwood 3 (Grace Rekeweg – 2), Texas Woman's 7

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Kepler: 15 kills, 11 digs, two blocks, .300 attack percentage (15-3-40)
• Collins: 14 kills, 15 digs, three blocks
• Murphy/Rekeweg: 10 digs each
• Lintz: 46 assists

UP NEXT

• Northwood will take on Florida Tech and Southwestern Oklahoma to conclude the event Saturday (August 25).