Aden Leads Wolves To Season-Opening Wins

August 24, 2007	1	2	3
Montevallo (Ala.)	28	31	16
Northern State	30	33	30

August 24, 2007	1	2	3
Northern State	33	30	30
St. Martin's (Wash.)	31	13	18

 

Junior Kelsey Aden (File Photo)

KEARNEY, Neb. - Junior middle blocker Kelsey Aden (St. James, Minn.) tallied 12 kills in each of NSU's season-opening wins against the University of Montevallo (Ala.) and St. Martin's (Wash.) on Friday at the UNK Fall Classic. The Wolves (2-0) defeated UM (0-1) 30-28, 33-31, and 30-16 in a 10:00 am match. Their second match of the season, against SMU (0-2), was also taken in three games, 33-31, 30-13, and 30-18.

The Wolves recovered from an early 4-10 deficit in their first game of the season, taking their first lead at 29-28 with an Emily Knaeble (Andover, Minn.) kill. Melanie Perez (Rio Piedras, PR) sealed the win with a game-winning service ace to put the Wolves up one game to none.

NSU continued to improve as the match progressed, leading the Montevallo Falcons by a slim margin for much of the second game before taking the 33-31 win. Aden and perez combined for 13 kills in the tight win, with a combined hitting percentage of .440. The team started the third game on a 12-2 run and never looked back, downing Montevallo 30-16 to take the match. NSU forced the Falcons to a -.022 swinging clip in the final game, while they notched 13 kills and hit .306.

Aden led the Wolves with 12 kills and a .333 hitting performance on the match. She also had four service aces and two block assists. Knaeble followed with 11 kills and digs each, while Perez rounded out the double-digit hitting with ten kills. Blayne Olson (Rock Springs, Wyo.) topped all players with 24 digs. Stephanie Nygaard (Milbank, S.D/Dakota State) added another 15 in her first appearance with the Wolves. Stephanie Perez (Rio Piedras, PR) called the offensive shots and dished out 35 assists.

The Saints of St. Martin's managed to hang with Northern State in the first game of each team's second season match by out-hitting the Wolves .320 to .314. NSU claimed the win in extra points and never looked back, downing their opponent 30-13 and 30-18 in the following games. NSU maintained a high hitting percentage, swinging at a rate of .284 in the match, while SMU struggled to put the ball in the court, hitting below .100 for the remainder of the match. Northern poured on pressure from the service line, racking up 12 aces in the three games.

Aden was the only NSU player to notch double figures in hitting, adding another 12 kills to the season. She also tagged on three additional service aces. Stephanie Perez totaled nine kills and 28 set assists and was followed by Knaeble and red-shirt freshmen Betsy Moormann (Dickinson, N.D.) and Kayla Ysteboe (Grand Forks, N.D.) with seven kills each. Nygaard led on the defensive front with 25 digs in the match. The Wolves out-dug the Saints 66-56.

NSU continues play at the UNK Fall Classic, presented by Runza and Ramada Inn, tomorrow with matches against host UN-Kearney and Northwest Missouri State at 12:15 and 4:45 pm, respectively.