MOORHEAD, Minn. -- The Minnesota State University Moorhead volleyball team fell to the Northern State volleyball team on Tuesday night in four sets. The Wolves took the first set 25-21, followed by the Dragons taking the second set 25-14, followed by NSU taking sets three and four 25-18 and 25-19.

Leading the way for the Dragons was junior Kaitlin VanWinkle who had 15 kills and hit .395 in 33 attack attempts. Junior Casie Baer had 24 assists and senior Sam Sullivan had 23 assists. Sophomore Kelsey Hartkopf had six total blocks to lead the team while junior Amber Krenske had 26 digs. Drew Smith led the way for the Wolves with 49 assists, six digs, and two blocks.

In the first set, the score was tied at 12 when the Wolves rattled off four straight points on two kills, a service ace, and a Dragon error to take a 16-12 lead. The Dragons scored five straight points after that point to take a lead an 18-17, partly thanks to three Abby Wolpern kills. The Dragons led at 20-19 before NSU scored the last five of seven points in the set to take the set 25-21.

The Dragons scored the first four points of the second set on a kill from freshman Claire Grimm, a kill from Baer, and two Wolves attack errors. The Dragons used runs of three, three, and four straight points to open a 16-7 lead after another kill from Grimm. Wolpern scored the last point of the set on a service ace to give the Dragons the set 25-14 heading into the break.

In the third set, the Wolves opened an early lead at 9-4 after a Dragon error. The Wolves increased the lead to six points at 17-11 after a Mandy Kurosky kill and took the set 25-18 after a Kelsey Chambers kill.

NSU used the momentum from the third set and opened a 6-2 lead after a kill from Jussy Tuscherer. The Dragons led at 15-14 after an error from the Wolves and 16-15 after a Hartkopf kill, but the Wolves scored seven straight points to lead 22-16. The Wolves scored the last point of the set on a Dragon attack error and won the set 25-19.

The Dragons will go on the road this week and face Upper Iowa on Friday night at 7 p.m. and Winona State on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m.