Northern State’s volleyball season came to an end after falling to the St. Cloud State Huskies in three sets, 25-19, 25-23, 25-22, during the opening round of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tournament at Wachs Area on Tuesday night.

The Wolves battled throughout the match and made things interesting, especially in the final two sets. Northern lost a close second set and held a late lead in the third, but St. Cloud was able to finish strong and secure the sweep.

Northern coach Brent Aldridge said he was proud of the way his team continued to compete, especially with the opportunities it created late in the match.

“I thought we battled and fought. We got some chances in the second set and led late in the third set,” Aldridge said, “so we showed we have some stuff there.”

One of the biggest differences in the match came offensively. St. Cloud finished with 16 more kills in the contest.

“Our first ball contact wasn’t very good and the bottom line is they had 53 kills and we had 37 kills or something like that,” Aldridge said, “and you look at how tight the last two sets were, well what if you kill five more balls or six more balls, then we would probably be still playing.”

Northern had to work through several injuries throughout the season, which required different players to step into bigger roles. Aldridge mentioned injuries to Morrisen Samuels and Linnea Nesheim, as well as a couple of concussions as challenges the team faced. Despite those setbacks, he felt the team showed growth by adjusting and finding ways to compete with different lineups.

Junior setter Ava Nilsson also recognized the growth of the team and the contributions players made throughout the season. She pointed out the play of middle hitters Cara Cyr and Victoria Persha.

“Once we got our middles involved Cara and Vic did a really good job of taking care of the ball when I got a good set,” Nilsson said. “I am really proud of them and overall, I think we played pretty hard.”

Nilsson noted that St. Cloud ‘s serving and offensive pressure presented challenges in the match.

“I think getting the ball in system was hard, obviously they were really good servers,” Nilsson said, “and their offense was tough, so it was really hard to stay in system.”

Despite the postseason loss, Nilsson said she was proud of the progress the team made throughout the season and how players responded when their roles changed. She specifically recognized Katelyn Schroeder for carrying a large workload heading into the postseason, along with the players who stepped up and took on additional responsibilities.

“I think we had huge growth this season and I am really proud of everyone on the team,” Nilsson said. “I am just proud of everyone who stepped in and just played a bigger load.”

Schroeder had 12 kills and 16 digs in the match. Nilsson finished with 31 set assists.

The Wolves ended their season with a 20-9 record.

To see a complete box score of the match, click on the following link:

https://nsuwolves.com/sports/womens-volleyball/stats/2026/st-cloud-state-university/boxscore/14961