MOORHEAD, Minn. – The Minnesota State University Moorhead volleyball team dropped a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference match at home to No. 6 Winona State (20-3, 11-3 NSIC) on Saturday afternoon. The Warriors won 25-16, 27-25, and 25-17.
MSUM is now 9-13 overall and 4-10 in NSIC play.
The Dragons hit .091 as a team, while the Warriors finished with a .270 hitting percentage. MSUM totaled 34 kills, 31 assists, 69 digs and eight blocks.
Junior middle blocker
Taylor Liesemeyer led the Dragon offense with 10 kills, to go along with one dig and one block. Junior captain hitter
Carly Masloski, redshirt-freshman hitter
Sarah Hagler and freshman hitter
Courtney Selbitschka each had six kills. Hagler also had a team-high three blocks.
Sophomore libero
Monica Vega totaled 20 digs, while freshman defensive specialist and redshirt-freshman setter
Makayla Wenzel had 11. Wenzel also amassed 27 set assists.
In the first set, MSUM jumped out to a four point lead 10-6 behind kills from Liesemeyer, Selbitschka and senior hitter
Tyann Caspers. Winona State then went on a 5-1 run tying the set at 11-11. The Warriors run didn't stop there as they hit their way to a 15-13 lead and didn't relinquish that lead for the remainder of the set, ending 25-16.
The Dragons once again jumped out to a lead early on in the second set. A kill each from Selbitschka and Caspers, along with multiple errors from Winona State enabled MSUM to build a 9-4 lead. Winona State used a 7-3 run tying the set at 12 all. From this point on it was difficult for either team to build a sizeable lead. Up 25-24, the Dragons were serving for match point, but the Warriors rattled off three straight points winning the second set 27-25, and going up 2-0 in the match.
After the set break, MSUM jumped out to a 3-1 lead behind two Masloski kills. However, much like the second set Winona State used a small run tying the match, and keeping it that way until the score reached 10 apiece. From there a 7-2 warriors run built the lead up for the final time, cruising to a 25-17 win.
The Dragons return to action on Friday, Oct. 28. For a NSIC match at Concordia-St. Paul. The match is slated to begin at 7 p.m.
