Playing in the Great Plains Athletic Conference typically offers Hastings College several opportunities to compete against NAIA Top 25 teams.

Friday was one of those nights. 

The Broncos welcomed in Northwestern, one of the league’s five rated teams currently and one of best programs in the country, to Lynn Farrell Arena. But they could not pull off another upset as they did last week against then-No. 16 Midland. 

The third-ranked Red Raiders (17-1, 7-0) was the aggressor early, played largely error free and left what’s historically been an upset environment with a 25-11, 25-17, 25-19 win to remain perfect in conference play. 

“It’s disappointing,” said first-year Broncos coach Harley Rhoades. “I think there were some nerves there. I felt pretty good going into it. We had a good practice yesterday, I felt like our pregame talk went pretty well. But when they rattled us early, it was really hard to bounce back from.”

Most shocking to Rhoades was Hastings College (12-4, 4-3) being served off the floor in the first set. The Broncos let six aces fall and never quite got in system with their offense.

HC scored the first point of the match, but NWC responded with eight in a row and never trailed again in the set.

The Red Raiders went on to hit .452 with 17 kills in the opener, largely operating off roll shots, free balls and weak attacks.

“Obviously they are a really good team,” Rhoades said. “We also were just very uncharacteristic of ourselves a little bit, especially in that 8-0 run. We got aced four times and we’re the least aced team in the conference.

“Serve and pass is our bread and butter and that was really tough when you’re playing the best team in the conference to not have that on your side.”

The Broncos answered the bell in the early part of sets two and three — leading 12-11 and 8-6, respectively, in those games — before the Red Raiders made their run.

Rhoades said he saw some good things in those sets.

“I thought we did a good job of trying to get better throughout that match, trying to find something that would work,” Rhoades said. “I think we hit pretty good (.202), they just hit really good (.429).”

Northwestern’s percentage was a season-best, along with its 12 service aces.

Conference kills leader Stella Winterfeld produced a match-high 20 while hitting .421. 

Mikah O’Neill paced the Broncos with 12 kills. Ilse Benne and Makenna Sutter added seven apiece.

Hastings hosts Waldorf (11-5, 3-4) Saturday with a chance to bounce back.

Rhoades said he is grateful for the immediate opportunity to right the ship.

“We know we are a much better team than that,” he said. “We have a rare opportunity, less than 24 hours, so we gotta flush this one.”