Sept. 17, 1999

Northern made a statement in its first conference match of the season Friday night in NSU's Barnett Center: this team isn't going anywhere, and fully intends to be in the thick of the battle deciding this season's Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference champion. Northern State defeated Moorhead State 3-2 in a marathon match (15-4, 16-14, 7-15, 10-15, 15-10).

After starting the season by running through a gauntlet of the nation's best teams (eight of NSU's first 11 opponents of the season garnered recognition in national polls) with a young team and coming out 2-9, the Wolves proved that hard-knock experience to be a primer for the conference season rather than a downer that dampered the rest of the season.

After coming out on fire and dominating the first game, then gutting out a tooth-and-nail second game, NSU's mettle would be tested as Moorhead State rallied to win the next two games. At one point in the fourth game with a Moorhead team hitting on all cylinders ahead 14-6, it looked as if the Dragons might ride their wave of momentum and hand Northern its 10th loss of the season. But instead of succumbing to the tide of adversity as a young team might, the already battle-tested Wolves stepped up to the challenge, mounting a comeback with four straight points to halt MSU's emotional lift. The Dragons would eventually pull out the fourth-game victory, but after NSU showed the backbone to stave off the intitial frenzied charge, the stage of momentum was more evenly set for the fifth-and-deciding game.

After falling behind early, the Wolves once again showed the merit of a veteran team by battling back to take a four-point lead midway through the rally-scoring game and finish off the Dragons before they could regroup.

Junior setter Tricia Schilling (Valley City, N.D.) was a pillar of consistency throughout the match all over the court, doling out 44 assists and registering a match-high 29 digs while also tallying six kills and two assisted blocks for the Wolves. Fellow junior Michelle Wiswell (Lead) led NSU at the net with 14 kills from her outside hitter position, while her and sophomore middle blocker Shanna Dahl (St. Cloud, Minn.) combined for 8.5 blocks on the night.