Courtesy of Midland Athletics
ORANGE CITY, Iowa – Coming off a Top 10 victory in the first round of the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) tournament, No. 15-ranked Midland University had a tall task at hand in the semifinals as they faced No. 1-ranked Northwestern College. The fourth-seeded Warriors battled the top-seeded Red Raiders inside the Bultman Center but ultimately fell in four sets (25-23, 25-18, 20-25, 25-21). The victory by NWC advances them to the GPAC Championship where they’ll face the second-seeded and No. 4-ranked Concordia University.
After an opening ace serve from the home team, the Warriors got three straight kills from three different hitters. Abbey Ringler slammed an overpass for the first point, then Jacki Apel and Lauryn Samuelson went back-to-back to put Midland up 3-1.
Northwestern battled back to tie the set at 8-8, but MU was able to hold off the lead change with two straight points: a kill by Cortlyn Schaefer followed by an ace serve from Brena Mackling. The Red Raiders responded with a 10-3 run to take over the lead, 18-13.
The Warriors started to claw back into the opening set. A 10-6 run pulled them within a point, 24-23, which prompted the Raiders to use their final timeout. The quick huddle worked as they converted a kill to take the first set, 25-23.
Northwestern carried that momentum into the second set as they started on a 15-5 run. The Raiders had eight blocks in the set, which led to a total of 11 attack errors by the Warriors. For the set, Midland had a -.020 hitting percentage, while NWC had a .133 with only five miscues as they won 25-18.
Coming out to start the third set, Midland saw its defense at the net start to pick up. Apel and Samuelson combined for a pair of blocks as the Warriors jumped out to a 4-0 advantage. They maintained the lead early before Northwestern pulled even at 10-10 and then 11-11.
The Warriors never allowed the Raiders to go up, though, as they went on a 5-1 run to seize control once more. Ringler, Apel, and Jessie Moss all had a kill in the run, forcing Northwestern into its final timeout.
Leading by four after the break, the Warriors matched each point by the Raiders. Apel, Samuelson, and Moss each had two more kills in the back half of the set as Midland won 25-20.
In the fourth set, Northwestern had the first big run as it marched out to a 14-6 lead. Midland battled back with a 7-2 run of its own to get within striking distance at 16-13. The Warriors continued to fight, pulling within two points at 21-19. Back-to-back points for the Raiders out of a timeout set them up for the finish, scoring four of the final six to complete the set 25-21 and win the match 3-1.
“I am proud of how our girls have continued to work hard and get better. We had a big improvement from the first time we played them,” said head coach Paul Giesselmann. “We need to clean up some little things and get ready for the opening round now. Our team defense was solid, but give Northwestern credit; they’re number one in the nation for a reason.”
With the top two teams in NAIA in blocks going into the night, both teams had to earn every kill they got. For the match, Northwestern hit .150 on the attack, while Midland was held to .126. Leading the Warriors was Jacki Apel with 11 kills, while Jessie Moss finished with 10. Abbey Ringler had eight, and she was followed by Lauryn Samuelson with seven and Lauren Williams with six.
Samuelson and Apel led the way at the net defensively with seven and six total blocks. As a team, Midland stuffed Northwestern’s attack 11 times.
In the back row, Delanie Vallinch had a season-best 28 digs. Joining her in double digits were Kailyn Scott with 19, Brena Mackling with 11, and Saige Craven with 10. The high volume of digs led to long rallies during the very entertaining match.
Mackling added 33 set assists on the night, while Brielle Power had 15. The duo coordinated the Midland attack, which finished with 51 kills on 182 swings.
Next up for Midland (15-11) will be the start of the national tournament. The Warriors will potentially host an NAIA Opening Round match on Saturday, November 18. The NAIA will officially announce the field of 48 teams for the 2023 tournament on Monday afternoon.
