DAYTON – The Wright State volleyball team hit .450 as a group in the opening set to set the tone as the Raiders defeated Northern Kentucky in four sets on Saturday afternoon in Horizon League action.
 
The Raiders now hit the road for a Tuesday night contest at Youngstown State before returning to McLin Gymnasium next weekend to host Oakland on Friday and Cleveland State on Saturday.
 
Wright State (6-7, 2-0 Horizon) tallied 19 kills in the opening set behind the .450 hitting percentage on the way to a .267 overall percentage in the win. Northern Kentucky (6-7, 1-1 Horizon) saw its hitting percentage drop throughout the afternoon, connecting at a .250 pace in the first set before finishing with a .147 hitting percentage.
 
Callie Martin was on fire, leading all players with 19 kills as she tallied her fourth double-double of the season as she added 17 digs. Megan Alders tallied 14 kills of her own, while Sam Ott just missed a double-double with 12 digs and nine kills. Aaliyah Byers also tallied nine kills to go along with five blocks. Lauren Yacobucci passed out 49 of Wright State's 58 assists in her first collegiate start, while Jenny Wessling paced the Raider back line with 21 digs.
 
SET ONE
A set of short runs by both sides, with Wright State using a 6-3 run behind two kills each from Martin and Zegunis to gain some breathing room at 17-12. A 4-1 stretch pushed the Raiders to 23-17 before NKU pulled closer with three straight points, only to see Wright State tally back-to-back kills from Alders and Martin to take the opening set 25-20.
 
SET TWO
Another tight set, NKU held a seven-point advantage at 17-10 before Wright State rolled off four straight points as part of a 9-2 larger run to pull the set even at 19-19 behind kills from Alders and Ott and four attacking errors from NKU. Tied at 21, the visitors tallied four of the final six points to take the second set 25-23.
 
SET THREE
Wright State jumped ahead early with six of the first nine points before steadily pushing the margin throughout the set each time NKU tried to rally. Leading 19-14, the Raiders recorded six of the final eight points behind kills from Martin and Ott to grab the set 25-16.
 
SET FOUR
Another back-and-forth set, Wright State used a five-point run at the midway point thanks to kills from Byers, Martin and Camryn Hausler to push to a 17-10 advantage. NKU tallied the next three points to pull to 17-13 but that would be as close as the visitors would get as the Raiders recorded five of the final right points, using kills from Alders, Byers and Martin before a Martin service ace ended the match with a 25-19 set win.