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Northern volleyball readies for unique season

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8-7-20
Brent Nathaniel
Twitter.com/BrentNathaniel
Thanks to Adam St. Paul at Dakota Broadcasting for the story

ABERDEEN, S.D. (Dakota Broadcasting) — Northern State volleyball is set to begin in a unique 2020 season due to COVID-19. The season has been delayed by the NCAA, in doing so has cost Northern five games and pushed the start of the season back to October 2nd.

Northern head volleyball coach Brent Aldridge gave a schedule for the beginning of the 2020 season

Northern is coming off an outstanding 2020 season where the team went 25-6 overall and 17-3 in the NSIC. The team was upset in the first round of the NSIC conference tournament by Upper Iowa, but would go on to earn an at large bid to the NCAA Central Regional tournament. From there the Wolves would go on to beat #7 St. Cloud State 3-0, but lose to #2 Nebraska-Kearney in the second round, ending their season.

For head coach Brent Aldridge he enters his 10th season as head coach at Northern, 28th head coaching year overall. During his time at Northern he has compiled a record of 188-77. Despite all the recent success he says this year will likely be his most difficult.

There are a lot of reasons for Northern’s program success entering 2020, but a big reason is how good local high school volleyball has been over the last decade. Schools like Aberdeen Central, Warner and Northwestern have found huge success at the state level. According to Aldridge, that helps in filling out the roster.

The Northern volleyball season opens October 2nd at home vs. the University of Sioux Falls and October 3rd at home vs. Southwest Minnesota State.