WINONA, Minn. - The Winona State University volleyball team opened play in their final NSIC weekend of the season, taking on the University of Sioux Falls Cougars at home in McCown Gymnasium on Friday, Nov. 4.
Sioux Falls came into the match riding a four-game winning streak and Winona State was unable to derail the USF momentum, falling to the Cougars, 3-0.
USF, 'Receiving Votes' in the current AVCA poll, made short work of the first two sets, dispatching Winona State 25-16 in set one and 25-11 in the second stanza. The first two frames saw the visitors hit .491 and rack up 29 kills. Winona State committed 12 attack errors across sets one and two, but the Warriors'
Anna Hennessy and
Casey Volkmann each collected a service ace in the opening sets.
Set three saw Winona State start strong, battling back to take their first lead of the evening at 7-6 early on. However, USF regained their advantage following a pair of Warrior errors and pulled away in set three for a 25-22 final set score.
Madison Larson, named to the All-NSIC Second Team earlier in the week, led Winona State with 13 kills in the contest. Warrior teammate
Lydia Lange added 11 kills to the WSU effort. Larson hit .417 on the night and Lange hit .308. As a team, Winona State hit .181 overall and
Jaci Winchell collected 33 assists.
Defensively, Winona State was led by
Jaci Winchell and
Kylie Welch, who had 7 and six digs respectively. Lange and
Gianna Vollrath both tallied a solo block against the Cougars, who improve to 17-9 overall and 13-6 in the NSIC.
Winona State (12-14, 8-11 NSIC) will host No. 7 Southwest Minnesota State on Saturday, November 5 in their final match of the 2022 campaign. The Warriors and Mustangs will start at 2 p.m. and the WSU Senior Day ceremony will take place following the contest.
For the most up to date news in Warrior Athletics, please visit:
www.WINONASTATEWARRIORS.com and
@WinonaStateATH.
About Winona State University Athletics:
The Winona State University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, as an integral part of the educational mission of the institution, is committed to offering opportunities to experience academic and athletic excellence for our student-athletes through two simple words:
Graduate Champions.
Fourteen Warrior programs compete at the NCAA Division II level within the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC).
