Volleyball falls to Northern State in 1st Round

The Mavs lose in the first round of the NSIC Tournament, ending the season for the club 

John Laforest
Staff Writer

The Maverick volleyball team’s season ended Tuesday night at the hands of the Northern State Wolves, 3-2, in Aberdeen, South Dakota. 

Over the weekend, the MSU volleyball defeated the Augustana Vikings Saturday afternoon, by a score of 3-1, guaranteeing the team a place in the NSIC Tournament .

That set up their match Tuesday night against the Northern State Wolves in what was hyped up as being a matchup between two of the better teams in the NSIC standings. 

MSU came out strong behind nine kills from junior Morgan Olson, the Mavs took the first set 25-22 to take a 1-0 lead in the match. 

The second and third set saw the Wolves take back the advantage capitalizing on crucial errors by the mavs winning 25-18 and 25-16 in back to back sets. 

The Mavericks however would not let their season come to an end so quickly with the fourth set being tighter than ever. The set was close throughout tied at 22 late, this time the Mavericks turned into the aggressor at the end winning 26-24 to force the decisive fifth set. 

The fifth set featured the Wolves gaining a 2-3 lead throughout and not looking back the Mavs mounted a comeback making the set close late but the wolves closed out MSU winning the set 15-10 and taking the match 3-2. 

The team dominated the game and had the advantage with 63 kills with Olson leading the way for both teams with 18 timely and crucial errors that lost the game for the Mavs. 

The loss ends the Mavs’ season, which they finished 18-11 overall and improving from 9-11 to 11-9 in conference play from a season ago. The Mavs look towards the future now that their season has come to an unfortunate end.

Feature photo by Mansoor Ahmad | MSU Reporter.