WICHITA, Kan. – The Newman volleyball team squared off with Northwestern Oklahoma State in the season home opener inside Fugate Gymnasium, with the Jets coming away with a 3-1 victory over the Rangers.

KEY SEQUENCE

The Jets (3-2 overall) came out hot in the first two sets of the evening, winning both of them decisively, but the Rangers (0-5 overall) wouldn't go away quietly by winning Set 3 and forcing Set 4. NU would hang on to win Set 4 and the match (25-15, 25-16, 22-25, 25-21) with help coming from Laura Hageman and her career night recording 23 kills.

Set 1
-The Jets were down 3-0 early in the set but didn't let that faze them by coming back and scoring the next 12 out of 16 points to get their lead out to 12-7 in the middle of Set 1.
-A kill by Aliya Higginbotham gave NU a 23-12, which was the biggest lead the Jets had in Set 1.
-A service ace by Kayla Turner would win Set for Newman 25-15.
-Hageman lead the Jets with five kills in Set 1.

Set 2
-NWOSU would jump out early and have a 7-6 lead but that would be the last time for the remainder of Set 2 because NU would go on a run of its own by scoring the next 15 out of 18 points in the set, to take a commanding 21-10 lead late in the set.
-The last three out of four points in the set would be kills from Hageman and the final point in the set would be a kill from Higginbotham to close out Set 2, 25-16 in favor of the Jets.
-Emily Harvey and Hageman were both tied with five kills in Set 2 to lead Newman.

Set 3
-It was a back-and-forth Set 3 early on with five ties and two lead changes in the first total 19 points of the set.
-The Rangers would go out in front 19-13 to get their biggest lead of the set but the Jets rallied back to make things interesting late to make it 21-22 with a service ace from Milica Petricevic.
-NWOSU would hang on to win Set 3 25-22.
-Hageman would lead the Jets again in kills with seven in Set 3.

Set 4
-It was a competitive final set with 10 tie scores and five lead changes throughout the set.
-A service error by the Rangers gave NU a 17-16 lead and a Kayla Turner kill extended it out to 18-16.
-To close out the remaining seven points of the set and match, the Jets received three points by way of errors from NWOSU, one kill by Yemima Buana and Turner and two from Hageman, including the match point to win 25-21.

STATISTICAL LEADERS

Newman
Kills: Hageman, 23. Assists: Brook Conley, 46. Aces: Turner, 3. Blocks: Buana, 4. Digs: Copeland, 19.

Northwestern Oklahoma State
Kills: Hannah Williams, 12. Assists: Kiauna Clark, 26. Aces: Natalie Fahey, 3. Blocks: Fahey, 7. Digs Tobi Barker, 13.

NOTES
-Hageman's career-high 23 kills came on 48 attacks against six errors, for a .354 hitting percentage.
-This marks four straight victories in home openers for Newman dating back to the 2013 season.

WHAT'S NEXT
NU heads to Nebraska-Kearney for another weekend tournament starting Friday morning.