ABERDEEN, S.D. - After going up 2-0 against the Golden Eagles of Minnesota, Crookston on Saturday evening, Northern State's volleyball match got a whole lot more interesting as UMC tied things up 2-2 and the match went into a deciding fifth game. The Wolves turned the tide back in their favor and won the fifth game to take the win. NSU is now 7-2 overall and 2-0 in the NSIC, while UMC falls to 2-7 and 0-2 in the league.

The Wolves opened the match with a smoking offense, hitting over the .300 mark in games one and two. They breezed through game two and went into the break with a 2-0 lead. Coming out of the locker room, however, the Wolves lost some wind from their sail and the Eagles took advantage. UMC improved their hitting percentage, which averaged near .050 combined in the first two games, and began to swing away at the Wolves. Northern reeled and gave up the next two games to set the match even at two games apiece.

The Wolves committed some early errors in the fifth game and Crookston took a 6-3 lead. The NSU defense emerged to keep the team in the game, and Northern tied things up at 12-12 with a kill by Stephanie Perez (So., Rio Piedras, PR). Two UMC hitting errors gave Northern a match point and Perez finished things off with another kill.

Kelsey Aden had 17 kills for Northern, followed by Jill Rasmussen with 16, Emily Knaeble with 14, and Perez with 14. Megan Gilbraith dished out 35 assists, while Perez had 25. The NSU block totaled 8.0 roofs in the match. Aden led the team with five assists. Melanie Perez had 15 of NSU's 85 digs.

The Golden Eagles had nine blocks on the night and were led by Allison Zajicek with seven assists and two solo blocks. Katie Bonine topped all players with 21 kills. Cassie Yates had 22 digs on the afternoon.

The Wolves hit the road for a set of NSIC matches next weekend. They face Southwest Minnesota State on Friday, September 14 in Marshall, Minn. and Wayne State on Saturday, September 15 in Wayne, Neb. The Wolves return to Wachs Arena on Tuesday, September 18 for a non-conference dual against South Dakota.