Dickinson State Box
MSU Billings Box

BILLINGS, Mont. – After taking last weekend off, the Northern State University Wolves made another stride in a strong opening to the 2009 season, rallying from a 2-1 deficit to take a 3-2 victory over the host Yellowjackets of Montana State University-Billings on Friday, the opening day of the 2-day MSU Billings tournament.

The win lifted the Wolves to 4-0 all-time against the Yellowjackets and 4-2 on the young season.  NSU also claimed a 3-1 victory over Dickinson State University earlier in the afternoon.

The Wolves dug themselves an early hole after dropping the first set of that match by a 25-17 margin, but rebounded to claim set two by the same score.  NSU used a 10-1 run at the end of that set to close it out, claiming the final three points on three straight Yellowjacket attacking errors.

MSU Billings repaid the favor in set three, however, dropping the Wolves by a 25-19 score, forcing the Wolves to play for their lives in the final two sets.  The Wolves used a balanced attack in the fourth set, while capitalizing on several Yellowjacket errors to tie the match at two sets apiece with the 25-20 victory.

After trading points to open the fifth and final set, the Wolves put an exclamation point on the comeback victory by scoring the four points of the match to take the 15-9 set win and the 3-2 match victory.

Junior setter Megan Gilbraith finished with 53 assists in the match, her first 50+ match of the year, while juniors Kayla Ysteboe and Claire Kopfmann combined for 26 of the team's 59 kills.  Senior Kelsey Aden had a team-best 13 digs, one of four players in double figures in that category, as the Wolves held the Yellowjackets to a .159 hitting percentage on the night.