#6 Wayne State 3 #2 Northern State 1

            It was a career-high and milestone setting night for Wildcat outside hitter Katie Hughes, senior setter Leisa McClintock and the #6 Wayne State College volleyball team as the Wildcats downed #2 Northern State 25-18, 25-14, 21-25 and 28-26 in Northern Sun Conference volleyball played at the Barnett Center in Aberdeen, South Dakota Friday evening.  The Wildcats move into a four-way tie for first place in the NSIC with the win at 13-2 in league play (21-3 overall) while Northern State is now 21-2 and 13-2 in the NSIC.
            With a career-high 25 kills, Hughes surpassed the 1,000 career kill mark and became the seventh player in school history with 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs while McClintock became the all-time leader in career set assists with 64 during Friday night's thrilling win.
            The Wildcats got off to a slow start in the opening set, trailing 10-5.  But WSC rallied and used four straight points served by sophomore Bree Ackermann to take their first lead in the set at 13-12 and the Wildcats pulled away for a 25-18 set win over the Wolves.
            Hughes and Elizabeth Gebhardt each had six kills for the Wildcats in the first set as Hughes achieved her 1,000^th career kill with her third kill of the match.
            Wayne State never trailed while dominating the second set for a 25-14 win.  The 'Cats had 16 kills and just three attack errors for a .342 percentage with Hughes producing six kills in the set followed by Michaela Mestl with five. 
            The Wildcats were on track for a possible sweep until the Wolves mounted a late rally to win the third set 25-21.
            WSC held leads of 18-14 and 19-15 when Northern State caught fire.  Wolves senior Kelsey Chambers had five kills and with the score tied at 21, Northern State scored the final four points of the set for a 25-21 win.
            The fourth set was a battle featuring 14 ties and six lead changes between the two clubs.
            NSU took an early 7-4 lead, then WSC scored three consecutive points to even the score at 7-7 and no team held a lead of more than two points the remainder of the set.
            WSC led 23-21, but the Wolves used a Mandy Kurosky kill and two Wildcat attack errors to earn set point at 24-23.  But WSC countered with a Hughes kill and a block from Gebhardt and Alex Opperman to earn set point at 25-24.  The teams traded three straight points for a 26-26 tie and the Wildcats got kills from Gebhardt and Alyssa Frauendorfer, her eighth of the set, to end the match for a dramatic 28-26 win to win the match 3-1.
            Wayne State hit .265 in the match compared to .217 for Northern State.  The 'Cats had 67 kills to 56 for the Wolves.  WSC held a 96-91 advantage in digs and had seven service aces to just three for the Wolves, but Northern State had a 7-4 edge in blocks on the Wildcats.
            Hughes paced the Wildcats with her career-high 25 kills to go with 25 digs, becoming the seventh player in school history to notch 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs.  She now has 1,022 kills and ranks fourth in career digs at 1,727.
            McClintock, a senior from Sioux City Heelan, handed out 64 set assists to move past Kasey Meyer Hopwood (4,606 from 1999-2002) for the school record in career set assists.  McClintock now has 4,611 in her Wildcat career.
            Frauendorfer and Gebhardt each recorded 15 kills for WSC in the win.  Senior libero Courtney VanGroningen had 28 digs with junior Michaela Mestl adding 23.  Mestl, Bree Ackermann and Frauendorfer each had two service aces for the Wildcats.
            Wayne State will play again Saturday afternoon in a 4 p.m. contest at MSU Moorhead.