ABERDEEN, S.D. – Minnesota State Moorhead volleyball had its opportunities but ultimately fell short in an NSIC match with Northern State. The Dragons fell in three sets on the road to the Wolves on Saturday.
Northern State would open the contest with a three-point lead before the Dragons scored four straight points.
Maci Martini drilled a pair of kills in the stretch while
Madi Colby turned in a service ace. Moorhead would establish a two-point lead (15-13) thanks to a kill from
Brielle Riess. The teams would play a back-and-forth frame from there, reaching a 20-point gridlock.
The Wolves would go on to score the next four points to reach set point, 24-20. Moorhead would get a point back before Northern State secured the stanza, 25-21. Northern State would continue to hold a narrow lead to begin the second set. However, the Wolves would extend their advantage to five points (15-10) by the midway point. From there, MSUM would whittle the deficit to one point (17-16) after kills from
Raiah Mandell and
Miracle Jensen. Colby scored another ace in the Dragon comeback as well.
Trailing 19-17, Moorhead would fall victim to a set-closing run from the Wolves. Northern State would score the final seven points of the frame to win 25-17. It was MSUM that gained the lead in the third set. The Dragons would lead by three points (10-7) thanks to offense from Mandell, Martini and Jensen.
Moorhead's lead would continue to grow by the midway stage of the set, leading 17-12. Martini added two more kills while the Dragons capitalized on a pair of Northern State errors. MSUM would only continue to push towards set point, holding a 24-18 lead following a spike from
Ruby Bones.
The home team would respond, scoring the next seven points to steal back the lead, 25-24. An
Ava Wild kill would even the count at 25 points before the Wolves scored two quick points to swipe the set, 27-25. Martini led the Moorhead offensive attack all afternoon, totaling 14 kills and 15 digs for consecutive double-doubles on the weekend.
Up Next
MSUM (7-4, 0-2 NSIC) will finally enjoy the friendly confines of Nemzek Fieldhouse next weekend. The Dragons are set to begin an NSIC weekend against Minot State on Friday beginning at 6 p.m.
