Box Score

WINONA, Minn. – After winning three of their last four matches, including three straight Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference contests, the Northern State University Wolves found themselves tripped up on the road, dropping a 5-set match to the Winona State Warriors on Friday evening, falling by final set scores of 18-25, 25-13, 25-19, 17-25, 10-15.

The loss dropped the Wolves to 11-15 on the season and 6-11 in NSIC play, while the host Warriors moved to 8-19 overall and 6-10 in the loop.

The Wolves were led by 13 kills off the hand of senior outside hitter Kelsey Aden, who committed just three attacking errors on the night to finish with a solid .400 hitting percentage.  Sophomore Claire Kopfmann added 10 kills.

WSU's Carmen Stankowski was the lone Warrior to reach double figures in kills.  The Warriors, however, came up with nine service aces and a dozen team blocks at the net to keep the Wolves at bay.

After dropping the initial set, the Wolves rebounded for two straight set wins, including a decided 25-13 win in the second stanza, to take control of the match.  NSU jumped out to an early 5-1 lead in that second set and never looked back en-route to the victory.

However, the Wolves had to work a bit harder for the third set win.  Down by an 18-15 margin midway through the set, the Wolves reeled off eight straight points to go up 23-18.  Aden had four of her 13 kills in that stretch, then put down a fifth to give the Wolves the set point at 24-19.  NSU took advantage of a Warrior hitting error to close out the stanza.

Set four proved to be a slow, steady Warrior march to victory.  WSU allowed the Wolves back-to-back serves just three times in the set, pulling away for the 25-17 win to even the match at 2-2 and force the fifth and final deciding set.

NSU used a strong start to pull ahead 9-4 in that set, but the Warriors rattled off 11 of the final 12 points of the match to rally for the 15-10 win.  WSU used three service aces and three other NSU miscues in that run.

The Wolves remain on the road tomorrow, facing off against Upper Iowa in another NSIC match-up.  First serve is set for 4 p.m. in Fayette, Iowa.