In a match than came down to a handful of pivotal points Friday night, Southwest State made a few more than Northern State.
The Mustangs fought off two set points in a pivotal second set and then managed to find late separation in the fourth set to fuel a 25-17, 26-24, 27-29, 25-21 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference volleyball victory at Wachs Arena.
“I told them you have to make plays,” said Northern coach Brent Aldridge. “You have to make these simple plays when it’s time to make a play. … You have to go make a good swing, a good high swing, and (Southwest was) able to do that, and it’s really the difference in the match. They made one or two plays and we didn’t.”
After the Mustangs controlled the opening set, the rest of the night was a dogfight with neither team willing to concede an inch.
“I have to give props to SMSU’s defense,” said Northern’s Ava Nilsson, who finished with 53 set assists. “There was many balls that a lot of teams you would think that it would be down, but they got a hand on it. They got it up and they’re really good in transition.”
It appeared Southwest was going to cruise to a two-set lead, owning a 20-16 advantage. However, the Wolves had other ideas, outscoring the Mustangs 7-1 for a 23-21 edge. NSU had two set points to level the match but came away empty, eventually falling in extra points.
“It’s not effort thing, it’s an execution thing,” Aldridged said, “and when we needed to execute in that second set, I thought that could have been the turning point.”
The third set again went down to the wire and the Wolves had five chances to win the set before finally securing it on their sixth set point.
“We are very even teams,” said Northern hitter Natalie Szybinska. “SMSU and us, for the last I would say three years, we are very even teams and definitely it’s always a good game against them.”
The fourth set provided more of the same drama as the score was tied for the first 13 points of the set. The Mustangs finally were able to inch out to a three-point lead at 19-16 maintain control the rest of the way.
“It really shows how the little things matter, always,” Nilsson said of the closeness of the match.
The loss was a costly one as the Wolves are fighting to make the upcoming NSIC tournament.
“We are for sure, if we make the conference tournament, we are now on the road,” Aldridge said.
The Wolves will host the University of Sioux Falls at 6 tonight. It will mark the last ever game for Szybinska at Wachs Arena.
“I’m kind sad, but I think I wrote some amazing stories here,” Szybinska said. “I met a lot of amazing people around here. And those five years I spent here were amazing.”
Northern will try to learn from the setback to Southwest as it prepares for USF.
“I think it’s important to move on, but I also think it’s important to know what happened,” Nilsson said. “We lost so obviously we did stuff wrong and identify those things that we did wrong, and then come back (Saturday) and not do those things wrong, but also not drag the loss with us (Saturday).
To see a complete box score, click on the following link:
https://nsuwolves.com/sports/womens-volleyball/stats/2025/southwest-minnesota-state/boxscore/14033
