GRAND FORKS, N.D.--History was made this afternoon at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
Playing in front of a record crowd of 1,000, the Fighting Sioux volleyball team outlasted South Dakota in five games to clinch outright the Great West Conference championship, the first conference title in UND volleyball history.
UND, 20-6 overall, finishes the season 12-1 in league play and 8-0 at home, the first perfect home season in the history of the program. The Sioux, winners of 10 straight matches, will enter next week's Great West Conference Tournament as the No. 1 seed.
It was also UND's first conference title in any sport (non-hockey) since the transition to Division I competition.
Sophomore outside hitter Annika Smed (Albert Lea, Minn.) had a career-high 24 kills and posted her team-leading eighth double-double of the season to lead the Fighting Sioux. Fellow sophomore outside hitter Devin Trefz (Bagley, Minn.) added 17 kills.
South Dakota, which was swept by the Sioux earlier this season in Vermillion, stunned the home crowd with a 25-23 victory in game one.
However, the Sioux gutted out a 25-20 win in game two behind Smed and reserve middle blocker Tiara Russell (So., Brooklyn Park, Minn.). The home team then took control of the match with a 25-23 nailbiter in game three.
UND quickly built a 7-3 lead in game four and appeared well on its way to putting away the Coyotes. But USD rallied to tie the game, took a commanding 23-17 lead and held on for a 25-22 win, largely behind the three-headed attack of Kristen Kritenbrink, Bailey Reshel and Kimberlee Bulaga.
But the Sioux would not be denied on Senior Day.
Trefz sparked a UND rally with a stretch of nine straight serves as the Sioux essentially put the match away before the two teams even traded sides at the eight-point mark. UND built an 11-2 lead before senior Britta Hanson (Thompson, N.D.) fittingly clinched the match with her 10th kill of the game.
"I guess when I look back on it I will probably think it was a fun game," UND head coach Ashley Hardee said. "South Dakota came in here and gave us everything we could handle and I knew they would. They have some young players but are an athletic team and I can't say enough about how they came in here prepared on our senior night."
The Sioux were dominant throughout the decisive game five, hitting .474 as a team. USD hit .000 in the final game.
Hanson finished the match with a .320 attack percentage to lead all hitters.
Junior right side Erin Joki (Grand Rapids, Minn.) added 10 kills for the Sioux.
"We did a nice job playing defense at times and made some switches when needed but our outside hitters stepped up and it kind of became an outside-hitters war" said Hardee.
Senior setter Megan Langseth finished with a game-high 53 assists and moved into fourth place on UND's all-time list. She also added 11 digs and four kills.
Senior libero Lindsay Vortherms (Windom, Minn.) had a game-high 20 digs.
Kritenbrink led the Coyotes with 24 kills, while Reshel and Bulaga chipped in with 13 and 12 respectively.
UND now receives a first-round bye at the Great West Conference Championship next weekend in Houston.
Continue to check FightingSioux.com for the complete tournament schedule as soon as it is announced.
Post-game video coming soon!
~Go Sioux~
