ABERDEEN, S.D. – The Northern State University Wolves took a swipe at the second-ranked Wayne State College Wildcats with a 25-14 first set win, then gave the wounded Wildcats everything they could handle but dropped the final three sets of the night to fall by a final match score of 3-1 Friday evening in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference volleyball action.

WSC, which took the final three sets by scores of 25-20, 2-19 and 25-22, remained perfect on the season, escaping Wachs Arena with a 12-0 overall mark and a 3-0 record in conference action.  The Wolves, facing their third top 10 team in the past two weeks, slipped to 8-5 on the year and 0-4 in league play.

The Wolves came out focused to start the night, racing to a 10-3 lead in the first set and forcing the off-guard Wildcats to call a quick timeout.  WSC closed to within three at 11-8, but the Wolves persisted through the rest of the set, pulling away from a 19-12 edge to a 23-12 lead on the strength of Kaili Aiono's serving and five straight thundering NSU kills. 

Junior Amber Bloom and junior Konefesi Vaisigano had five kills apiece in that set, combining for ten of the Wolves' 17 to open the night.

WSC turned the tide in the second set, pulling steadily away from an 8-8 tie to take a 22-16 advantage en-route to a 25-20 win to send the teams into the break tied at one set apiece.

Set three belonged to the Wildcats from the start as they came out of the break to take a quick 9-1 lead.  The Wolves were never really in contention in that set despite staving off three set points at the end.

Set four proved to be a battle throughout despite an early 8-3 WSC lead.  NSU battled back to force a 15-15 tie using a pair of WSC attacking errors sandwiched around a Megan Gilbraith service ace.  The two teams played through ties at 16, 17, 18 and 19 before the Wildcats finally regained the lead for good at 20-19 on a Tali Fredrickson kill.

A block by NSU's Whitney Morsching and Gilbraith followed by another Vaisigano kill made it a 22-23 affair, but back-to-back kills from Shelby Schultz and Jennifer Hefner put the set and the match away for the Wildcats.

Bloom led the way offensively for the Wolves, putting down 14 kills and serving up 15 assists.  Senior Jordan Schaffer added 13 kills on 25 attempts for a team-best .320 hitting percentage, while Vaisigano tallied 12 kills and 20 digs.

The Wolves had four players in double dig figures, led by junior libero Kaili Aiono's 31.  Sophomore Ella Campbell had 15, while Gilbraith added 11 digs to go along with 32 assists as the Wolves held the Wildcats to just a .161 team hitting percentage on the night.  NSU also finished with 10 team blocks on the night.  Freshman middle blocker Paula Martins was in on five of those.

For the Wildcats, Hefner had 13 kills, while Schultz added 11.  Senior setter Diedra Artz had 46 assists.

The Wolves return to Wachs Arena on Saturday still looking for their first conference win of the season.  NSU plays host to Augustana College, who improved to 3-0 in NSIC play on Friday with a 3-0 road win over the University of Mary.  First serve is set for 5 p.m. on Saturday.