Northwestern holds Blue Devils down, defeat Stout 3-1

University of Northwestern 3, UW-Stout 1

ST. PAUL, Minn (September 14, 2016) – UW-Stout bounced back from a one-sided first set loss to take the second game, but 25th ranked University of Northwestern took control in sets three and four and downed the Blue Devils, 3-1, Wednesday at Erichsen Center.
 
In the opening set, the Blue Devils (7-3) recorded their lowest individual game score, falling to the Eagles (7-2), 25-10. The Blue Devils hit minus-.133 in the opener, recording seven hitting errors to only three kills.
 
Stout bounced back to take set two, 25-17, but could not keep the effort up, going down, 25-14, 25-12.
 
Stout recorded an uncommon numbers of attack errors throughout the evening, concluding the night with a hitting percentage of .063. Coming into tonight's game, Stout was hitting .216.
 
Northwestern went the other way. With the exception of set two, which Stout dominated, the Eagles hit at a percentage of .257, despite hitting minus-.103 in set two. Stout had held their opponents to a .108 hitting percentage in the previous nine matches.
 
Stout got 11 kills from Kennedy Strain and 10 kills from Ashley Pratt. Strain finished with one solo block and three block assists. The Blue Devils finished with one solo and eight assisted blocks. Northwestern had one solo blocks, but 18 assisted blocks.