ABERDEEN, S.D. - In their lengthiest match of the season the Wolves volleyball team fell in five games to MSU Moorhead. Stephanie Nygaard had 58 digs in the match, the most by any NSIC player this season, and Kelsey Aden had a career high 23 kills. The win for the Dragons separates them from the Wolves in NSIC standings, as MSUM is now 10-4 overall and 5-2 in NSIC play, while NSU is 8-6 overall and 3-3 in NSIC play. The Wolves host #6 Concordia-St. Paul tomorrow at 4:00 pm.

The Wolves took the first game of the match by spreading the ball around to various hitters and taking advantage of MSUM mistakes. The Wolves hit .217 in the game while the Dragons hit .000. NSU started the second game on a 6-2 run, but MSUM soon caught up and the teams played neck-and-neck until the end, when NSU committed several errors and dropped the game 29-31.

Another strong hitting performance by the Wolves gave them the third game and put the home team up 2-1 in the match, but MSU Moorhead rallied to take the fourth game 30-25. The Dragons were hitting the ball with power and took the momentum into the deciding game.

Northern quickly put down a run of kills to start the final game, including three from Kelsey Aden, which put NSU up 4-1. The tide changed with NSU errors at the net and MSUM began to frustrate Wolves hitters with their block. The Dragons pulled ahead 11-8 before NSU went on a 6-0 run with kills from Stephanie Perez and Emily Knaeble and three hitting errors from MSUM. This gave the Wolves match point, 14-11. Outside hitter Megan Norling put down a kill to preserve the game for the Dragons and give MSUM the serve. Calla Oftedahl placed a serve which barely knicked the NSU endline for an ace and brought the score to 14-12. A series of kills shifted the advantage to MSUM, 14-15, and despite their best efforts, the Wolves fumbled and lost the game 16-18.

Kelsey Aden (Jr., MB, St. James, Minn.) had another standout match against the Dragons as she notched a career high 23 kills. Aden's previous high mark was 22 kills, also against MSUM on November 2 of last season. Aden had five block assists and two aces as well. Emily Knaeble (Sr., OH, Andover, Minn.) had 15 kills and 18 digs for her seventh double-double of the season. Jill Rasmussen (So., MB, Sioux Falls, S.D.) had 12 kills and four block assists.

In the first meaningful appearance of her career, freshman Whitney Morsching (RS, Aberdeen, S.D.) tallied five block assists and had five kills. The Wolves had a season high 142 digs in the marathon match, including 58 from Stephanie Nygaard (Jr., L, Milbank, S.D./Dakota State, the most digs by any NSIC player this season.

The Wolves hit .170 to MSUM's .120 and also dominated the blocking column with ten team blocks to the Dragons' seven. MSU Moorhead had 149 digs in the match, which is the most by an NSIC team this season; NSU's 142 digs ranks second. The Wolves committed 15 errors at the service line and were aced eight times by the Dragons.

MSUM's Julie Vancura became the school's all-time leading set assist leader with her 34th assist of the night. She finished the match with 60 assists and also had 28 digs. Norling led all players with 25 kills and also had 16 digs. Laura Tvrdik also had double figures in kills with 18. Libero Calla Oftedahl led her team with 43 digs.