Northern State 3 #16 Wayne State 1

            Wayne State College suffered a first round loss to Northern State Friday evening at the NSIC/US Bank Volleyball Tournament held in St. Paul, Minnesota as the Wildcats fell to the Wolves 25-17, 26-28, 25-18 and 25-17.  WSC is now 22-9 on the season while Northern State is 19-10.
            The Wildcats had one of their worst hitting nights of the year as the 28 attack errors and .128 hitting percentage were the second-highest (attack errors) and second-lowest (hitting percentage) efforts of the season respectively.  The 'Cats got off to a bad start in the first set with 11 errors and a -.026 hitting percentage in falling to the Wolves 25-17.  WSC came back in the second set as senior middle hitter produced six kills to lead the Wildcats as WSC edged NSU 28-26 to even the match at 1-1. 
            But Northern State rebounded in the third set and hit .389 with just two attack errors to go with 16 kills as the Wolves regained control of the match with a 25-18 win in the third set.  The fourth set was back and forth between the two teams until a late run by the Wolves allowed them to pull away for the win.  WSC held a 12-9 lead and was up 14-12 until Northern State reeled off seven straight points for a 19-14 lead and the Wolves went on to record a 25-17 win in the fourth set to take the match 3-1.
            Northern State hit .273 for the match with 58 kills and just 17 attack errors while WSC struggled with a .128 hitting percentage on 48 kills and 28 attack errors, the second-most in a Wildcat match this season.  The Wolves had 72 digs to 64 for WSC while NSU also held a 7.5-5 block advantage over the Wildcats.
            Armes led Wayne State in hitting with 12 kills followed by Cori Hobbs and Katie Hughes each had 10 kills to go along with 14 and 16 digs respectively to both record double-doubles.  Redshirt freshman Courtney VanGroningen contributed 14 digs with Tatum Wroblewski adding 10 while setter Leisa McClintock handed out 42 set assists.
            Wayne State, entering the NSIC Tournament ranked eighth in the NCAA Division II Central Region, now awaits word on a possible at-large bid to the NCAA National Tournament with the selection show being held Sunday evening at 9 p.m.