Northwestern has consistently had one of the most dominating high school volleyball programs in all of South Dakota – this season looks to be no different.
The Wildcats have jumped out to an early 11-0 record to start their 2019 campaign, which includes victories over some impressive programs.
On Tuesday night, Northwestern hosted a powerhouse in Class A, the Miller Rustlers. The Wildcats dropped the opening set, but ended victorious at 3-1 (23-25, 25-18, 25-14, 25-16). Coming into the match, Miller was ranked as the No. 2 team in Class A, while Northwestern sits atop the rankings in Class B.
To show just how dominating Northwestern has been thus far, the lone set that Miller took on Tuesday evening was the first set that any team has won over the Wildcats this season. In all of their other 2019 matches, the Wildcats have won with a clean sweep.
Last season, Northwestern fell to Warner, who is another decorated program in the state, in the Class B state championship match. The Wildcats and the Monarchs have already met this season, one week ago in Warner, where Northwestern topped the defending champs 3-0 (25-10, 25-15, 25-13).
Throughout their history, Northwestern has won a total of ten state championships. Since Nora Groft has been their coach, the Wildcats have won seven state titles. Groft's career record in state championship matches is 7-2, one of the losses came in 2008 against Philip, and the other was last year with Warner.
Nora Groft celebrated her 500th career win as a head coach last season late in the regular season. Unofficially, her career win total now sits at 521. That’s good enough for No. 8 all-time in South Dakota high school volleyball, and No. 3 amongst active head volleyball coaches (1 – Linda DeBoer (Miller) and 2 – Kari Jung (Warner)) in the Mt. Rushmore state.
Northwestern will travel to Ipswich on Thursday September 19th to play the 8-2 Lady Tigers.
