The Wright State volleyball team lost 3-1 to Northern Kentucky Friday evening (26-24, 20-25, 17-25, and 11-25) at WSU's McLin Gym.

First Set Highlights

Northern Kentucky opened the match with the first kill of the set on the outside, but Wright State's Celia Powers immediately answered with back-to-back kills to put the Raiders up 2-1.  Northern Kentucky kept the score close, tying the game at 3-3 and 4-4 before the Raiders regained their lead at 7-5 after a huge block.  The Norse tied the game at 7-7, but the Raiders went on a 3-0 run after three consecutive kills to take the lead at 10-7 forcing Northern Kentucky to call their first timeout.  Coming out of the timeout, the Norse scored the first point but the Raiders quickly took side out and extended their lead to 15-11 before Northern Kentucky took their second and final timeout of the set.  Coming out of the timeout the Norse went on a 3-1 run to pull within one point of the Raiders at 16-15 before the Raiders called their first timeout of the set.  Coming out of the timeout, a hard fought rally ended with an error from the Raiders which allowed the Norse to tie the game at 16-16.  Both teams kept the score close trading points back-and-forth pushing the score to 20-19 with the Norse in the lead before Wright State took their second timeout of the set.  Out of the timeout, Northern Kentucky extended its lead to 21-19 with a service ace, but Wright State was able to side out with a kill by Teddie Sauer to close in at 21-20. The Raiders tied the game three times at 22-22, 23-23, and 24-24 before taking the lead at 25-24 after a ball handling error by the Norse.  Megan Hopkins finished the set with a powerful kill from the middle and won the set for the Raiders at 26-24. Powers led the Raiders with seven of Wright State's 19 kills for an impressive .500 hitting percentage.  Wright State finished set one with 19 kills for a .326 hitting percentage while Northern Kentucky finished with 15 kills for a .326 hitting percentage.

Second Set Highlights

Northern Kentucky came out in the second set with the momentum going on a 6-1 run to take the early lead.  The Raiders were able to close back in on the Norse at 6-4 after putting down two kills and a service ace.  Both teams continued to trade points back-and-forth and pushed the score to 11-7 with Northern Kentucky in the lead before Wright State called their first timeout of the set.  Coming out of the timeout the Norse went on a 3-0 run extending their lead to 14-7 before the Raiders were able to side out with a kill from freshman outside hitter Natalie Santana.  The Raiders went on a 6-1 run in the middle of the set closing in on the Norse and forcing them to take a timeout at 15-13.  Coming out of the timeout the teams traded points back-and-forth pushing the score to 19-15 with the Norse in the lead.  At 19-15 the Raiders called their second and final timeout of the set.  Coming out of the timeout both teams kept the score close trading points before Northern Kentucky took their first timeout at 22-19 after the Raiders went on a 3-0 run to close in on the Norse.  Coming out of the timeout the Norse put down back-to-back kills to make it set point at 24-19.  A service error by the Raiders gave the Norse their final point and Northern Kentucky won the second set 25-20.  Santana led the Raiders with three kills in the second set out of Wright State's 12 kills.  Wright State finished set two with 12 kills while Northern Kentucky finished with 11 kills.

Third Set Highlights

The Raiders came out in the third set ready to play with senior libero Jessie Thornton putting down back-to-back service aces against the Norse to take the early lead at 2-0.  Northern Kentucky quickly tied the game at 2-2, and both teams continued to keep the score close tying the game two more times at 4-4 and 6-6.  Wright State called their first timeout at 9-6 with the Norse in the lead hoping to swing the momentum in their favor.  Coming out of the timeout the Raiders were able to pull within one point of the Norse at 12-11 before tying the game at 12-12 after a hitting error by the Norse.  Wright State took their second timeout at 15-12 after the Norse went on a 3-0 run.  Coming out of the timeout Santana put down a powerful kill for the Raiders closing in on the Norse at 15-13.  Both teams continued to trade points back-and-forth throughout the middle of the set pushing the score to 20-16 with Northern Kentucky still in the lead.  A 5-1 run by the Norse late in the game however ended the third set with Northern Kentucky winning 25-17.  Freshman Teddie Sauer led the Raiders with three kills of Wright State's seven kills for a phenomenal .429 hitting percentage. 

Fourth Set Highlights

The Raiders started the fourth set with a powerful kill from Sauer, but the Norse quickly tied the game at 1-1 after capitalizing on a Wright State service error.  Both teams kept the score close throughout the beginning of the set tying the game five separate times pushing the score to 5-5 before the Norse went on a 3-0 run to take the lead at 8-5.  With the Norse in the lead at 8-5, Wright State called their first timeout of the set with the intention of slowing down Northern Kentucky's run.  Coming out of the timeout Barcus was able to put down a powerful kill from the outside to side out for the Raiders at 8-6.  A service error by the Raiders however jump started a 5-0 run by Northern Kentucky which allowed the Norse to extend their lead to 13-6 before Wright State called their second and final timeout of the set.  Coming out of the timeout the Norse continued to extend their lead by putting down a powerful kill from the outside.  Both teams continued to trade points back-and-forth, but a couple of runs by the Norse allowed them to extend their lead to 20-10.  Northern Kentucky went on a 3-0 run late in the game posting back-to-back services aces and won the fourth set 25-11 to win the match 3-1.  Powers and Santana led the Raiders with three kills each of Wright State's 10 kills.

What Coach Clements is Saying

"We started off much better than the past few matches, but we weren't able to sustain it.  I thought Celia did a very good job moving to a new role as well as Natalie getting the start tonight.  Tomorrow will be another tough match, and hopefully we can find more consistency."

Next Up

Wright State continues conference play at home tomorrow taking on IUPUI at 4 p.m.