This was the 12th time in 24 matches this season that the Northern volleyball team faced a ranked opponent or an opponent receiving votes in the national poll. The Bulldogs hung on for a 25-15, 23-25, 25-20, 25-21 win over Northern State in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference volleyball on Saturday at Wachs Arena.
"I don't believe in moral victories," said Northern head volleyball coach Brent Aldridge. "The expectation now is not moral victories - the expectation is victory. I thought we played well. We fight. That's what we do. We played well against a nice team. I'm not happy we lost, but I'm happy we competed like crazy."
Northern State's record is 14-10 overall and 9-7 in conference play. The Wolves in contention for a conference tournament invitation in the post season.
"Our conference is stacked with rated teams," said NSU freshman Kelsey Chambers. "Every single game we have to go out and compete because anything can happen in this conference. At times today (Saturday) we played very well; like the game we won (the second set) but there were times we could have stepped up even more as a team. Not individually, but as a team keep more composed."
The Bulldogs won the first set 25-15, but the Wolves bounced back in set number two. The set was tied eight times and had three lead changes. Northern trailed 18-14 but strung together six straight points to take a 20-18 lead. The Bulldogs committed four attacking errors and the Wolves had a kill by Kaleinani Kabalis and an ace serve by Drew Smith. The run stopped on a Northern serving error for a 20-19 score for the home team.
NSU stretched the lead to 22-19 before Duluth's leading hitter and All-American Kate Lange connected on a kill to pull her team to within two points at 22-20. NSU's Macey Finizio hit a kill and the Bulldogs were whistled for an illegal hit to bring up set point.
The Bulldogs had a three-point scoring run before Chambers ended the set in favor of Northern State at 25-23. Earlier in the season Duluth beat Northern State 25-17, 25-14, 25-14 on the Bulldogs home floor.
"Our energy had everything to do with it," said Chambers who finished with a team high 13 kills and 12 digs. "We were really dead and quiet when we were at Duluth. We weren't ourselves. We kind of killed ourselves. They put up good swings and they did their job. We just killed ourselves."
Minnesota-Duluth head coach Jim Boos noticed a difference in the Northern players from that earlier match.
"They (Northern) certainly played a lot sharper today," he said. "For whatever reason that night (in Duluth), we played pretty well. They seemed to lose a little bit of their spunk early. We kind of kept rolling. Today, game one felt pretty good for us. Offensively we rolled and then we started making some errors and they started capitalizing. They got their middles more involved and made it hard for us. I think they played very well."
The third set was tied five times including the last time at 17-all. The Bulldogs outscored the Wolves 8 to 3 to win the set 25-20.
The fourth and final set was also tight with five ties. Minnesota-Duluth took a 22-19 lead on a kill by Ashley Hinsch. The Wolves pulled to within 22-21 on a Duluth attacking error and an ace serve by Kabalis. Duluth's Lange finished with the set and match with a two kills and a block. She totaled a team high 19 kills in the match.
"We've been on three super long road trips this month so sometimes you just have to keep grinding and grinding," said Boos. "We were fortunate to come out on top in this one."
The Wolves played competitively in the match.
"That's one of the best teams in the nation and another team we get to play and I love it," Aldridge said. "Our kids were a little intimidated the first game, but then they figured out that they put spandex (volleyball uniform shorts) on the same way we do. I can't fault our kids. We fought until the end."
In the next action for Northern State, the Wolves hit the road for a match at Minot State on Thursday before finishing the season with a slate of three home matches.
"We have four matches left and all we can do is work to get the next one and the next one and the next one," said Aldridge. "We look forward to going and playing Minot and grinding it out the rest of the season. We're playing at a nice level right now."
Serving: Minnesota-Duluth 4 aces (Kate Lange 7 aces, Julie Rainey 1 ace, Elizabeth Benusa 1 ace); Northern 4 aces (Kaleinani Kabalis 1 ace, Drew Smith 1 ace, Macey Finizio 1 ace, Sami Nygaard 1 ace).
Hitting: Minnesota-Duluth 112-142 58 kills (37-44 19 kills, Maddy Siroin 14-19 9 kills, Monica Turner 15-18 7 kills, Kalli Lochner 17-22 7 kills); Northern 112-140 38 kills (Kelsey Chambers 26-32 13 kills, Kabalis 17-25 7 kills, Finizio 26-31 7 kills, Chelsea Chavez 21-26 5 kills).
Setting: Minnesota-Duluth 57 assists (Ashley Hinsch 46 assists); Northern 36 assists (Smith 33 assists).
Digs: Minnesota-Duluth 64 (Rainey 20, Hinsch 10); Northern 42 (Chambers 12, Kabalis 10, Ella Campbell 8, Finizio 5, Nygaard 4).
Blocks: Minnesota-Duluth 3 solo 12 assists (Lange 2 solo 1 assist, Turner 3 assists, Lochner 3 assists); Northern 15 assists (Chavez 6 assists, Smith 4 assists, Jussy Tuscherer 2 assists).
Records: Minnesota-Duluth 23-2, 14-2 NSIC; Northern State 14-10, 9-7 NSIC.