Box Score
MOORHEAD, Minn. – Led by sophomore
Paula Martins for the third straight match, the Northern State University volleyball squad overcame a second-set hiccup and a third-set nail-biter to knock off Minot State University in four sets (25-19, 22-25, 28-26, 25-15) on Saturday afternoon to complete a three-match sweep at the MSU Moorhead Tharaldson Classic Tournament.
The wins boost NSU to 5-2 overall heading into next week's Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference opener against seventh-ranked Minnesota-Duluth. Minot State, which is set to enter the NSIC as a full-fledged member next season, fell to 2-6 on the young 2011 campaign.
The Wolves took advantage of playing MSU on the second of back-to-back matches for the Beavers and jumped out to a quick opening set victory, but ran into speed bumps in sets two and three. NSU needed a rally from down 23-21 in the third set to force the extra points. Martins put down one of her 15 kills in the match to spark a mini 3-1 NSU run that tied the score at 24-all. The Wolves then fended off two straight MSU set points with kills from
Konefesi Vaisigano before claiming the set on a
Carli Peterson kill and a Minot hitting error.
MSU then visibly ran out of steam in the fourth set and the Wolves took full advantage, rattling off runs of three or four points five times throughout the course of the set to cruise to the 25-15 victory.
Martins capped off a solid weekend with 15 kills and a blistering .520 hitting percentage at the net. She was also in on six of the Wolves' nine team blocks. Vaisigano added 14 kills and 13 digs, while freshman
Morgan Richardson notched her third career 50-assist match, finishing with 52 dishes for the second straight match. Richardson also led the squad with 16 digs and had four blocks on the front line.
MSU got 17 kills from Jen Dixon and 11 each from Kelsey Wingo and Janice Reinbolt, but hit just .174 as a team.
The Wolves open the home portion of their schedule on Tuesday, hosting the Bulldogs of UMD in a 7 p.m. match in Wachs Arena.
