Wolves Shock No. 5 Bison

Sept. 5, 2001

Northern State's volleyball program couldn't have started the school's centennial year in any better fashion.

On the first day of classes and in their first home match of the season, the Wolves earned what was certainly the biggest non-conference regular season win in program history, defeating perennial national powerhouse North Dakota State University in a grueling five-game thriller (22-30, 30-18, 34-32, 17-30, 16-14).

After dropping a hard-fought first game, the Wolves dominated game two before slugging it out in game three with the Bison, who moved from being ranked eighth nationally to fifth in the latest AVCA national poll released Tuesday. The Wolves needed five game points to do it, but came through to go up 2-1 and put the pressure on NDSU.

The Bison (8-2) responded, dominating the fourth game and forcing the ultimate rubber match. But Northern's crowd of 557 screaming fans helped spur their team to a 14-8 lead in the fifth. With their backs to the wall, the Bison showed their mettle by coming back to knot the score at 14 before junior outside hitter Molly Veenhof (Huron, S.D.) stopped the bleeding with a kill. After a lengthy delay from the officials to check lineups, Christi Lucas (White, S.D.) cooly stepped up and delivered an ace to end the match and spark pandemonium in the Barnett Center.

Lucas led the Wolves with 16 kills and three blocks on the night. Junior outside hitter Kim Heny (Northwest College, Powell, Wyo.) came up equally big, registering a double-double with 15 digs and 11 kills to go with two blocks. Junior outside hitter Stephanie Tschetter (Huron, S.D.) tallied 15 kills on the night. Senior Beth Van Emmerik (Gillette, Wyo.) led the team defensively with 19 digs. Freshman Lindsey Ono (Omaha, Neb.) and sophomore Tara Sauter (Belle Plaine, Minn.) combined for 48 set assists on the night.

For the Bison, whose only other loss on the season is to No. 3 West Texas A&M, seniors Rachael Schmieg and Heather Evans led the way with 17 kills apiece.

Northern travels to the NSIC-NCC Crossover in Rochester, Minn., this weekend. There, the Wolves will battle St. Cloud State, South Dakota and Nebraska-Omaha. UNO was nationally ranked last week and received votes for the nation's Top 25 this week.