Women's Volleyball 10/31/2009 4:00:00 PM Ryan Powell, UND Media Relations

Sioux treat home crowd to five-set thriller, take over first place in Great West with victory over Utah Valley

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — Junior Erin Joki (Grand Rapids, Minn.) had a career-high 14 kills and her final one proved to be the match-winner as the University of North Dakota volleyball team trumped visiting Utah Valley in five sets (20-25, 25-21, 25-18, 23-25, 15-13) at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center on Saturday.

The victory by the Sioux (17-6, 8-1 Great West) broke a first-place tie with the Wolverines (17-9, 7-2 GW) and gave UND sole possession of the top spot in the Great West standings. UVU was the lone team the Sioux had yet to defeat in their inaugural season in the Great West.

“This was a great match and a great victory for our team,” first-year UND head coach Ashley Hardee said. “Utah Valley did a tremendous job, but we stayed resilient after letting them back in it there in the fourth set and were able to secure the win.”

With the league's top two attackers in action, it was Joki that proved to be the difference as she hit .400 for the match (14k-2e-30a). Utah Valley's Kayli Broadbent and UND's Devin Trefz (Bagley, Minn.) more or less cancelled each other out as the Wolverine outside hitter finished with a match-high 22 kills, while the Sioux sophomore had 20.

“Watching Broadbent and Devin go back-and-forth was exciting to watch, but Erin was fantastic offensively the entire match,” Hardee added. “To have an attack percentage that high on 30 swings was phenomenal. She was the difference and it was fitting for her to put that last one away and give us the victory.”

Joki actually had two attempts to end the match with UND leading 14-13 in the fifth set, but her first attempt was dug by the Wolverines. However, she did not miss on her next attempt, hammering home the final point in front of a crowd of 579 at 'The Betty.'

Just as pivotal as the attacking was, the Sioux defense managed a season-high 97 digs. Senior Lindsay Vortherms (Windom, Minn.) led a quartet of Sioux players with 27 digs, while sophomore Annika Smed (Albert Lea, Minn.) added a season-high 22.

Junior Courtney Halvorson (Oklee, Minn.) and sophomore Taylor Bohannon (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) each had 16 for UND. UVU senior Allyce Jones led the Wolverines, who had 96 digs of their own, with a match-high 35.

The victory extended UND's season-long winning streak to seven games and was its first five-set victory of the season. The Sioux have now won 12 of 13 overall.

Trailing by as many as six in the first set, UND rallied to square the game at 17-17 only to see UVU bounce right back and claim a 25-20 victory. Broadbent had seven kills in that opening set to pace the Wolverines, who had a .343 attack percentage.

The Sioux improved their defensive efforts in sets two and three, holding the high-powered Wolverine offense to .061 and .077 attack percentages, respectively. UND won the second set (25-21) and took the third (25-18) as Trefz had five kills in both games, while Joki had three in each.

UND appeared to be putting the match away in game No. 4, but the Wolverines staged a dramatic comeback after trailing 23-20. Four straight kills by senior Camie Manwill sparked a 5-0 run by UVU and a successful attack by Dani Robinson sent the match to a decisive fifth set.

The Sioux controlled the fifth set early on, building a lead of 9-6 following an attack error by Manwill. Just like the fourth set, UVU did not fold, staging another rally. The visitors regained the advantage at 12-11 following a kill by Faith Tusieseina.

This time UND was the team with a response as an attack error by Broadbent and back-to-back kills by Trefz gave the Sioux their first match point at 14-12. Tusieseina quickly quieted the crowd with a kill to pull UVU within a point, but Joki was able to finish off the match career-high 14th kill.

Senior Britta Hanson (Thompson, N.D.) had six of her 12 kills for UND in the fourth set. Senior setter Megan Langseth (Alexandria, Minn.) added 50 assists, while UVU's Chelsea Fa'alogo had a match-high 54.

The Fighting Sioux return to the road next week for a two-game swing through Chicago State and New Jersey Institute of Technology. UND plays the Cougars on Thursday in Chicago before taking on the Highlanders in Newark, N.J., on Saturday.

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