Northern State found itself in an uphill battle Saturday afternoon in its final regular-season match of the season.

Eighth-ranked Winona State forced the Wolves to play from behind most of the way en route to a 23-25, 25-18, 25-17, 25-23 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference victory.

Northern swept the Warriors in a previous matchup handing them one of their only three losses of the season, but things were much different this time around.

Northern coach Brent Aldridge said the biggest difference between the two matches was serve and serve receive. The Warriors collected eight aces on Saturday, while the Wolves had just one.

“They served us off the court and then we go back and we get nothing in return for our serving,” Aldridge said. “They had 16 more kills than we did. You’re not going to win if you can’t side-out. We got stuck in too many rotations, really.”

The first set was tight the whole way with neither team having more than a four-point edge. The Wolves were able to pull away from a 22-22 tie to secure the win.

However, after that the match was played on Winona’s terms. The Warriors jumped out to an 8-1 lead in the second set, a 6-1 lead in the third set, and a 5-1 lead in the fourth set. Northern was never able to draw even in any of those three sets the rest of the way.

The verdict extended Winona’s winning streak to nine straight matches, while snapping Northern’s six-match winning streak.

Sidney Paulson was a thorn in Northern’s side the whole match. The left-hander finished with 19 kills and five aces for the Warriors, 26-3 on the season. NSIC Player of the Year Megan Flom added 15 kills.

Taylor Buckley topped the Wolves with 12 kills, while Sally Gaul and Peyton Ellingson contributed nine and eight, respectively.

Havyn Heinz led the backrow with 24 digs, and Buckley added 16.

The Wolves played without hitter Natalia Szybinska who was injured in Friday night’s victory over Upper Iowa.

“There’s all kinds of excuses, but we don’t get into excuses,” Aldridge said. “We have to play better.”

Northern will enter this week’s NSIC Tournament with an 18-10 record and face Wayne State in the opening round. The tourney runs Thursday through Saturday in Sioux Falls.

“At this time of the year it’s how you’re playing,” Aldridge said. “After (Friday) night clearly I thought we were playing OK volleyball, and today they just took it to us.”

To see complete match stats click on the following link:

https://nsuwolves.com/sports/womens-volleyball/stats/2021/winona-state-senior-night-/boxscore/9246