Box Score #11 Northern State 3 #4 Wayne State 1

            #11 Northern State outlasted #4 Wayne State 25-17, 18-25, 25-19, 25-23 Saturday evening in Northern Sun Conference volleyball played at Wachs Arena in Aberdeen, South Dakota.  The host Wolves are now 11-2 overall and 4-1 in league play while WSC falls to 10-3 and 2-3 in the NSIC.
            WSC took an early 5-2 advantage in the first set, but the Wolves roared back and used 16 kills in the set with just three errors to hit .333 in the set for a 25-17 win.
            The Wildcats stepped up their defense in the second set as WSC forced 12 attack errors on the Wolves and a negative attack percentage (-.020) as Alex Opperman was credited with five blocks in the set helping WSC even the match with a 25-18 second set win.
            The third set saw NSU score the final four points of the set to pull away for a 25-19 win over the Wildcats.  After WSC took an 8-5 lead early, the Wolves rallied and took a 15-12 lead.
            Wayne State responded and used a Bree Ackermann service ace followed by a Megan Gebhardt kill to regain the lead at 16-15.  The Wolves then scored five of the next six points to take a 20-17 lead and NSU went on to the 25-19 third set win.
            The fourth set featured 13 ties and four lead changes as Northern State rallied late for a 25-23 set win.  WSC was up early 9-4 to force a Northern State timeout following a Gebhardt service ace.  Northern State came back and knotted the score at 12-12 and neither team led by more than two points until the end of the set.
            WSC held a 23-22 lead following a Michaela Mestl kill, but the Wolves got back to back kills followed by a bad set from Wayne State to end the match as the Wolves won 25-23.
            Northern State held a .222 - .156 advantage in hitting over Wayne State that included a 61-48 edge in kills.  The Wolves also held an 87-73 cushion in digs while WSC edged NSU in blocks 10-9.5. 
            Senior Michaela Mestl had her third straight and seventh double-double overall to lead WSC with 13 kills and 18 digs.  Senior middle hitter Alyssa Frauendorfer added 11 kills and had three blocks.  Senior middle hitter Alex Opperman contributed a team-high seven blocks for WSC.
            Senior Natalie Vondrak had 18 digs while freshman libero Haley Kauth notched 16 and sophomore setter Megan Gebhardt had 38 set assists and four blocks.  Junior Bree Ackermann had three of Wayne State's four service aces.
            Wayne State will start a five-game home stand on Friday, September 30^th hosting Minot State in a 7 p.m. contest at Rice Auditorium.