Box Score

MARSHALL, Minn. – In the ultra-competitive volleyball conference that is the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, nothing comes easy.  The Northern State University Wolves experienced that first hand Friday night, falling in straight sets to the 14th ranked, but previously winless in conference play Southwest Minnesota State University Mustangs 17-25, 22-25, 11-25.

The Wolves slipped to 7-6 on the year and 2-3 in NSIC play while SMSU moved to 11-5 overall and 1-3 in league action.

Senior outside hitter Kelsey Aden and junior middle blocker Whitney Morsching had six kills apiece for the Wolves, who struggled to get into any sort of hitting rhythm.  The Wolves finished with just a .050 hitting percentage on the night.  Junior Jordan Schaffer was the lone bright spot in that category, putting down five kills without committing an error in 16 total attacks.

Freshman libero had 12 digs to lead the defensive effort while also serving up a pair of service aces.

After going down relatively quietly in set one, the Wolves rallied back in the second set.  SMSU built a quick 12-4 lead to open the set before the Wolves rallied to close to within two at 22-20.  That, however, would be as close as they would get, as the Mustangs closed out the set before making quick work of the third and final set

Mary Groth had 12 kills and Devin Diedrich added 10 for the Mustangs.

NSU will look to get back on track tomorrow against an equally tough Minnesota State, Mankato team.  The Mavericks, ranked 11th in the latest AVCA poll, knocked off the University of Mary 3-0 on Friday and are 13-2 heading into tomorrow's match.