ST. PAUL, Minn. — Hamline defeated North Central (MN) 3-1 on Thursday at Hutton Fieldhouse, winning by set scores of 19-25, 25-11, 25-13, 25-21. After dropping the opening set, the Pipers moved in front in the second set after trailing 2-0 and went on to win the next three sets. Hamline finished with 49 kills and a .258 hitting percentage while holding North Central (MN) to 19 kills and a .010 mark.
The Pipers got two kills from
Lexi Helmin and one from
Lydia Graham to tie the opening set at 16-16, but North Central (MN) answered with five straight points and took the set 25-19. Helmin led Hamline with five kills in the set, while North Central (MN) got three kills from Autumn Kaczmarek and four service aces as a team.
Hamline won the second set 25-11, finishing with 11 kills to North Central (MN)'s five and adding three service aces.
Lexi Helmin and
Sophia Johnson each had four kills, while
Cameryn Sand assisted on eight Pipers kills, and Hamline won seven of eight rallies from 16-9 to 23-10.
The Pipers won the third set 25-13 behind 16 kills, compared with four for North Central (MN).
Sophia Johnson had six kills in the set, while Sand assisted 11 Hamline kills and added a service ace.
Hamline produced 14 kills to North Central (MN)'s five in the fourth set, led by six from
Lexi Helmin, and Sand assisted on 12 of those kills. The Pipers also held a 4-2 advantage in service aces, including
Lydia Graham's ace during a four-point service turn that moved Hamline from a 7-6 deficit to a 10-7 lead before the home team took the set 25-21.
Lexi Helmin finished with 17 kills on a .552 hitting percentage, two service aces and 19.5 points. Sand recorded 39 assists, six digs, two service aces and one block assist.
Ava Montanez collected 17 digs and added two assists.
Sophia Johnson tallied 12 kills and four digs.
Hamline is 2-3 overall. North Central (MN) is 1-3 overall.
Up next, the Pipers host University of Wisconsin-Superior on Friday, Sept. 11, at 3 p.m. at Hutton Arena in St. Paul, Minn.
