NSU posted a 26-24, 25-21, 25-20 win over Winona State on Friday in a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference volleyball match. Northern improved to 10-8 overall and 5-5 in league play. Winona State dropped to 16-4 overall and 8-2 in the NSIC. The Warriors started the night tied with Southwest Minnesota State at the top of the conference standings with one loss.
"They are a nice team and knocking on the top 25," said NSU coach Brent Aldridge. "It's a good road win and going 3-0 is pretty gratifying. We handed Winona a loss on their home court. Everything we did in practice this week centered around slowing down their middle hitters. One hit .125 and one hit .000."
The win in the first set established the atmosphere for the match. The Wolves took the lead early in the set but the Warriors rallied.
"It was a side-out battle. We were ahead and let them back in it and it was tied. We made some plays when we needed to and kept our composure. It kind of set the tone for the match," said Aldridge.
The Wolves controlled the action in the second set but trailed for much of the third set.
"Down the stretch we made some plays that at times this year we haven't made," said Aldridge. "We didn't make errors after we hit 20 points."
The Warriors managed just a .134 kill percentage and the Wolves posted a .234 kill average. Northern's Macey Finizio had 14 kills and just three errors for a healthy .367 kill percent. Kaleinani Kabalis added 13 kills. Drew Smith distributed 37 set assists and Kabalis had 14 digs.
Northern ended up with one solo and six assisted blocks, but the Wolves got their hands on a lot of Winona kill attempts.
"We touched a bunch of balls and that's not going to show up in the box score. We slowed them down and turned them into points. Those touches led to some points for us," said Aldridge.
Northern State continues the weekend road trip with a 5 p.m. match today against NSIC foe Upper Iowa University at Fayette, Iowa.
"I'm kind of excited to see what we get against Upper Iowa," said Aldridge. "The only thing that would make it better is to get another win and play with some composure, be clean and not make errors."
Serving: Northern 6 aces (Kelsey Chambers 2 aces, Kaleinani Kabalis 2 aces); Winona 2 aces (Elena Kruesel 1 ace, Maggie 1 ace).
Hitting: Northern 96-111 41 kills (Macey Finizio 27-30 14 kills, Kabalis 28-34 13 kills, Chambers 18-19 5 kills); Winona 99-119 36 kills (Katie Froehle 22-28 8 kills, Bekah Saugen 25-32 9 kills, Paige Garriga 12-12 6 kills).
Setting: Northern 38 assists (Drew Smith 37 assists, Ella Campbell 1 assist); Winona 34 assists (Kruesel 15 assists, Kaley Jacobson 7 assists).
Digs: Northern 55 (Kabalis 14, Smith 9, Sami Nygaard 8, Campbell 8, Chambers 9); Winona 47 (Saugen 12, Kruesel 11, Froehle 7).
Blocks: Northern 1 solo 4 assists (Cari McGarvie 1 solo 1 assist); Winona 1 solo 6 assists (Laura Zeamer 1 solo 2 assists, Rachel Polland 2 assists).
Records: Northern State 10-8, 5-5 NSIC; Winona State 16-4, 8-2 NSIC.