Box Score

ABERDEEN, S.D. - Led by an efficient - and effective - 13 kills from senior Kaleinani Kabalis, the Northern State Wolves rolled to a 3-0 sweep of the visiting St. Cloud State Huskies Friday night in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference volleyball action.  NSU staged a 12-point rally in the second set and another 9-2 run in the third to take the wind out of the Husky sails en-route to the 25-18, 25-18, 25-16 win.

The victory, NSU's eighth in its last nine matches, moves the Wolves to 14-9 overall and 9-6 in NSIC play.  The Wolves are now 7-3 at home and will play four of their final five matches of the regular season on their home court. 

SCSU slipped to 6-17 on the season and 2-13 in the loop.

NSU began the night with a strong effort in the opening set.  Kabalis put down five kills on six attempts in the stanza, while the NSU defense limited the Huskies to just five kills at the net.  SCSU, however, answered with a little fire of their own in the second and jumped out to an early 15-9 advantage.  A Jordan Hansen service error, however, gave the Wolves the serve back and senior libero Ella Campbell took it from there. 

Campbell had two service aces in what ended up as a 12-0 NSU run that took the Wolves from a 15-9 deficit to a 21-15 advantage before an error at the net broke the run.  Kabalis finished off the set with two straight kills to send NSU into the break leading two sets to none.

SCSU did the same thing in set three, jumping out to the early 8-4 advantage before watching the Wolves again take over the lead with a 7-0 run.  Senior middle blocker Chelsea Chavez had three kills and a block in that run.  NSU staged another run late in the set to completely quell the Husky momentum.

Kabalis finished the night with a .571 attack percentage at the net, while adding 10 digs, two service aces, a block and an assist to the mix.  Freshman Kelsey Chambers added 10 kills, while Chavez and sophomore Macey Finizio had eight apiece.  Freshman Drew Smith dished out 41 assists while guiding the Wolves to a .265 percentage at the net.

The Huskies, in contrast, struggled on the offensive side of the net, hitting just .129 on the night.  Sophomore Dani Donmeier paced the squad with six kills.  Junior Ellie Dietzen added five kills for the Huskies.

The win avenges an earlier road loss for the Wolves, who fell in a five-set battle back on Sept. 15.

NSU remains at home to finish out the weekend, hosting fifth-ranked Minnesota-Duluth on Saturday.  First serve is set for 3 p.m. in Wachs Arena.