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The 20^th-ranked Northern State volleyball team hits the road for a pair of pivotal regional matchups this weekend as the Wolves will face No. 18 Wayne State Friday at 7 p.m., and will then take on Augustana in a 4 p.m. match Saturday.

Northern (19-4, 12-4 NSIC) is ranked ninth in the first NCAA regional rankings released earlier this week. Augustana comes in at No. 8 in the region while Wayne sits in 10^th. The top eight teams from the region make the NCAA regional tournament.

NSU split with WSC and Augustana back in October in Aberdeen. The Wolves were beaten by Augie 3-0 and defeated then-10^th-ranked Wayne 3-2.

Wayne is led offensively by outside hitter Cori Hobbs who is ninth in the league averaging 3.95 points per set. In the back row, the Wildcats are led by libero Courtney VanGroningen who is third in the NSIC averaging 4.53 digs per set.

Augustana is led by a pair of hitters in the top-10 in the league. Holly Hafemeyer sits third in the league averaging 4.11 kills per set while Courtney Ysker is seventh in the conference at 3.77 kills per set. Setter Marissa Johnson is currently third in the league in assists averaging 12.16 per set.

As a team, the Vikings are fourth in the NSIC in hitting percentage (.236), assists (13.05) and kills (13.96) per set. Augustana leads the conference with 19 digs per set.

Northern outside hitter Kelsey Chambers is just 17 kills away from moving into the all-time top-20 list at Northern for career kills. Chambers has 627 kills for her career and is currently second in the NSIC averaging 4.21 kills per set this season.

Libero Sami Nygaard and setter Drew Smith are also in the top-five in the conference statistically in digs and assists, respectively. Nygaard is fourth averaging 4.53 digs per set and Smith is averaging 11.72 assists a set this season.