Volleyball Top Stories

 

Wolves End Season In NCAA Quarters

November 9, 2006	1	2	3
Northern State	24	19	14
#3 Concordia-St. Paul	30	31	30

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Northern State Wolves ended the 2006 campaign with an NCAA Regional Quarterfinal loss to #3 Concordia-St. Paul Thursday night in St. Paul, MN. The Wolves went down in three straight games, 30-24, 30-19, and 30-14.

The Wolves struggled to get their offense going all night and hit just .036 in the match, including two games in which the team hit in negative figures. Concordia, on the other hand, displayed their might with a .240 offensive performance. The Wolves held the Bears to a .171 average in game two, but CSP hit .286 and .237 in games one and three, respectively. The Wolves were also severely out-blocked, which is a rarity for the NSU team. Concordia shut out NSU 14.0 times on the night, compared to the Wolves' slim figure of just 7.0 blocks. Against fellow NSIC teams this season, the Wolves posted fewer blocks than their opponents on just three other occasions this season, with two of the three occurrences being against the Golden Bears.

Odemaris Diaz was the only NSU player to hit in double figures on the match, finishing with ten kills. Kellie Heier led her team not only with 24 assists, but also with 13 digs. Melanie Perez was the second-leading defender with 10 digs. NSU had 29 kills with a .036 hitting average, 47 digs, eight reception errors, and seven blocks.

Ashley Olson led the Golden Bears into the semifinals with 13 kills, followed by Kelsey Kyro and Jessica Lucia with 12 kills each. Maria Steinhagen played strong at the net, collecting six block assists and one solo block. Kyro also had six blocks on the night (5 BA, 1 BS). Three CSP defenders, Lucia, Olson, and Megan Graham, had 16 digs each. CSP hit at a .240 clip with 53 kills on the night. They had 69 digs and gave up just one receiving error while also posting 14 blocks.

The result of the match sends Concordia-St. Paul (35-2) to the semifinal round of the NCAA tournament, and ends Northern State's season. The Wolves wrap up 2006 with a 17-14 record after finishing fifth in the NSIC. Their trip to the NCAA Tournament was the first in school history. The Wolves will bid farewell to seniors Kellie Heier, Heather Pudwill, and Odemaris Diaz.