ORANGE CITY, Iowa – The Northwestern College volleyball team (10-2, 2-1 GPAC) won a thrilling five-set match over arch-rival and No. 23-ranked Dordt University (7-3, 1-1 GPAC) inside the Bultman Center Saturday evening, led by Jazlin De Haan who notched a match-high 16 kills in her first Dordt-Northwestern match of her career.

"Jazlin and Bekah both played really good tonight," noted head coach Kyle Van Den Bosch. "Overall, it was a great defensive effort with a lot of digs (77 Raider digs)." In a match of runs, it was Northwestern winning the first two sets and Dordt the third and fourth sets, which forced the decisive fifth set inside the Bultman Center.

The first set was a battle between two top-25 teams, as it was a back and forth affair. A 6-2 run for the Defenders gives them the 10-6 advantage and the momentum early on. Northwestern would not be deterred, as the home crowd kept them in it. The set ending in small spurts, it would be Northwestern's 3-0 run down 23-22 to prevail in the opening set (25-23), thanks to kills from Bekah Horstman (Sr., Pella, Iowa) and De Haan (So., Orange City, Iowa).

A 9-2 Northwestern run would give the Raiders the momentum to close out set 2, winning it 25-19. Senior Katie Peters (Le Mars, Iowa) came to life in the set, picking up five massive kills to keep momentum on the side of the red and white.

Though being down 2-0 in the match, the Dordt Defenders were not about to fold to their arch rivals from Orange City. The Defenders would take sets 3 (25-20) and set 4 (25-23) to force the winner-take-all fifth set inside a rocking Bultman Center.

The fifth set proved to be all Northwestern, thanks to the home crowd advantage. A .300 hitting clip to Dordt's .100, proved to be the difference. The Raiders jumped out to a quick 8-3 advantage when the two teams flipped sides, as two massive swings from Horstman proved to be too much for the Defenders in the early part of the set. After switching sides, the Raiders never looked back, as it was only fitting that De Haan picked up the final kill of the match, as Northwestern took set five 15-9.

MATCH NOTES:

Jazlin De Haan (16), Bekah Horstman (14), and Alysen Dexter (13) all notched double digit kills.

Katie Peters notched a season-high eight kills from the right side, five shy of her career-high of 13.

Jadeyn Schutt and Liv Reitsma were perfectly split in the setting duties, each notching 28 on the match.

Reitsma notched a team-high two service aces of the team's seven.

Olivia Granstra kept vital balls up, notching a match-high 21 digs.

De Haan (15), Dexter (12), Reitsma and Schutt (10) all also notched double-digit digs.

Macay Van't Hul and Horstman both picked up solo blocks in the match, Horstman leading the team with five total.

DORDT - Leaders

Kills Corrina Timmermans (12), Isabella Cumana (11), Brenna Krommendyk (9)

Aces Mia Gamet (2), Sophie Johnson (2), Madison Vis (2)

Blocks Ellie Voss (5.0), Brenna Krommendyk (5.0), Allison Timmermans (3.0)

Assists Sophie Johnson (22), Megan Raszler (18), Brenna Krommendyk (2)

Digs Sophie Johnson (15), Makenna Kooima (14), Madison Vis (14)