In 10 sets of volleyball, there has been little to separate 16th-rated Southwest Minnesota State and 18th-rated Northern State this season, but the Mustangs managed to pull out both five-setters. The Wolves would like to change that in just a few days.

“Kudos to our kids and congratulations to Southwest,” said Northern coach Brent Aldridge. “Two tough battles, two five-setters.”

Northern fell to Southwest on Saturday in the regular-season finale at Wachs Arena, dropping the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference match 18-25, 25-17, 25-17, 14-25, 15-9. The teams will meet for a third time on Tuesday in Marshall, Minn., in the NSIC Tournament.

“I thought SMSU did exactly what they needed to do,” Aldridge said, “get us out of system, go gang up on our outsides, but we battled.”

After closing the fourth set with a flurry, the Wolves appeared to have momentum heading into the fifth. However, the visitors quickly bolted out to a 6-0 lead and forced Northern to have to play near error-free volleyball the rest of the way.

“In a set to 15, it goes by really quickly,” Aldridge said.

The Wolves chipped away at the margin and eventually closed to 11-9, but could get no closer.

“If we got to 10 and Keri (Walker) was serving,” Aldridge said, “I thought wow the pressure on the other side of the net, (but) couldn’t quite get over the top.”

After the Mustangs took a 2-1 lead after the first three sets, Northern tailed 4-0 in the fourth before Reese Johnson changed the momentum, helping lead the Wolves to eight unanswered points with three ace serves.

“We just needed a spark to get us going,” Johnson said. “Our energy was kind of down, so I just knew I needed to do something to help the team out, and that’s what I did there.”

Johnson found a spot to her liking and it worked out well to put NSU in front.

“I do a jump float,” Johnson said of her serving style. “Our assistant calls zones for us, so we were kind of aiming at the 5-6 zone there, because they were two-person passing, so we were aiming in the middle.”

The junior from Denver, Colo., said once an ace or two falls, it makes serving the ball easier.

“It starts flowing a little more once you get a few,” Johnson said. “It just gets me going.”

The Wolves also received a boost off the bench from Cara Cyr, who came in and did a little bit of everything. She finished with six kills, an ace serve and three assisted blocks.

“Having great teammates is really helpful. They’ve already kind of laid the foundation for me,” Cyr said. “They’ve been spreading the sets around, thinning out the block a little bit, so that made it much easier.”

When asked about her goal when gets on the court, Cyr said it’s about being a good teammate.

“You just try to support your teammates in any way that you can,” she said, “and by supporting them, they’ll end up supporting you, and together you’ll just create better outcomes.”

The junior from Maple Grove, Minn., was able to hit her way past the Southwest block. Again, she gave credit to others.

“That has to be Keri. She was doing a great job of locating me all the way out to the pin so I could get outside of them,” Cyr said. “That is definitely helpful.”

Cyr said that while she enjoys receiving sets when she is killing balls, the best thing is that is helps to set up her teammates, too.

“I think that happens for anyone, right,” Cyr said of wanting touches, “but more than that you want to hit two, and then, OK now go set my teammates so they can do the same thing.”

That did happen as Hanna Thompson led the Wolves with 16 kills, followed by Natalia Szybinska with 12, and Morissen Samuels with 11.

Walker contributed 46 set assists and 23 digs.

In the end, Southwest had just enough to pull out another close win over the Wolves.

“I just thought they were a little better in streaks,” Aldridge said. “I can’t say that they were better, because we kind of ran on them in (sets) 1 and 4. It goes really quick. That 15 points goes really quick.”

The Wolves, 20-6 on the year, now need to come up big on Tuesday night in hopes of keeping their season alive in order to advance to the regional tournament.

Johnson said Saturday’s setback will fuel the squad going forward.

“It’s for sure going to be motivating, just because we know it’s going to be tough to get into the regional at this point,” Johnson said, “because (today) was kind of a big game or a big factor to getting into the regionals, so we really need to get a few more wins honestly if we want to get there.”

Cyr said there is a different feeling when it comes to the postseason compared to regular-season matches.

“Everyone is really locked in now,” Cyr said. “We’ve had the whole season to work on stuff, and now postseason is really where we can show all the work that we’ve put in.”

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

https://nsuwolves.com/sports/womens-volleyball/stats/2024/southwest-minnesota-state/boxscore/13676