OMAHA, Neb. – When facing a volleyball team as tradition-rich as NAIA No. 6 Northwestern College, it's imperative you take advantage of opportunities, because they may not be plentiful.

College of Saint Mary had a prime opportunity late in the opening set on Saturday when Caitlin McCormack's kill pulled the hosts within 22-21.

However, a service error followed by consecutive kills from Zavyr Metzger and Nyah Potthoff whisked away that opportunity, and the Red Raiders went on to sweep CSM 25-21, 25-10, 25-22 in Great Plains Athletic Conference action at the Lied Fitness Center Fieldhouse.

"Two out of three sets, I saw some good things,'' CSM Coach Rick Pruett said. "The first set we were right there, and then we made some errors. I told them that if we're going to pull off an upset versus a team, you can't have those, because they don't beat themselves.''

In that opening set, CSM (10-6, 3-3) registered more kills than the Red Raiders, 15-14, but it also made eight errors to Northwestern's three, allowing the visitors to hit .314 to the Flames' .167.

Azaria Green and Caylin Barnett notched four kills each in the opener, McCormack added three and Mya Weber and Madalyn Welp contributed two each. But the Flames could only manage 19 total kills in the next two sets combined after that 15-kill opener.

Northwestern (15-3, 7-0), ranked third nationally in team blocking at 2.96 per set, enjoyed a 16-3 advantage in total blocks, thwarting the CSM attack at key times. The Flames hadn't registered any blocks until midway through the third set.

"They blocked us like I knew they would, and we hit exactly where I told them we couldn't hit,'' Pruett said.

Green and Barnett led the way with eight kills apiece, while McCormack had seven and Welp six. Green hit a team-best .313 out of the middle. Kaitlyn Busby handed out 16 assists and Kennedy Buck had 13. Northwestern outhit the Flames .326 to .092.

"I don't think we're far off,'' Pruett said. "I'm not discouraged. I'm discouraged at whatever happened in set two. That's just frustrating. But on the flip side, we battled for two of those sets.''

CSM returns to action Friday for a 7:30 p.m. GPAC match at Dakota Wesleyan University.

*In the junior varsity match on Saturday, the Red Raiders downed CSM 25-15, 25-15.