The Hastings College volleyball team lost to NAIA No. 2 Northwestern 9-25, 24-26, 14-25 on Saturday afternoon inside Lynn Farrell Arena.
Hastings really struggled to get its offense going in set one as the Red Raiders held the Lady Broncos to a -.129 hitting percentage while hitting .370 themselves.
Set two was as close of a set as you can get as neither team led by more than two points. With the set tied 20-20, an attack error by Northwestern followed by a kill from Ilse Benne put HC up 22-20 as the Red Raiders called a timeout. Northwestern came back with three straight points but Madison Glenn tied things at 23 with a kill. The Red Raiders would take the lead but Benne countered with a kill to tie things at 24. But Northwestern would take the set 26-24 as Hastings fell behind 2-0.
The Lady Broncos came out fighting in set three and went on a 7-0 run highlighted by kills from Benne and Valasek plus a service ace from Makenna Asher as Hastings led 12-7. Northwestern would go on a run of its own tying things up 12-12. Then it was Northwestern on the attack as a ball deflected off towards the Hastings bench in which Miriam Miller chased after. Miller went full speed into the bench keeping the play alive by hitting the ball back and then Makenna Asher was able to get the ball to clear the net. It felt like this could have been a beg momentum changer if HC could have won the point but Northwestern finished it off with a kill and then ran away with the set 25-14.
Hastings hit just .030 while Northwester hit .227 for the match.
Valasek led the way with nine kills while Benne finished with eight kills and Glenn added six kills. Miller finished with 24 digs with Asher leading the team with 23 assists.
Hastings is now 7-12 (2-8) on the year and will be back in action Wednesday Oct. 11 hitting the road to take on Mount Marty with first serve set for 7:30 pm up in Yankton, SD.
