GRAND FORKS, N.D. - The University of North Dakota volleyball team opened its Great West era in sweeping fashion on Thursday night, blanking Houston Baptist in front of a Betty Engelstad Sioux Center record crowd of 508. The Fighting Sioux rallied to win the first set, 27-25, then coasted through the final two sets to earn a sweep in their inaugural match as Great West Conference members.
After a slow start, both the Fighting Sioux (6-5, 1-0 GW) offense and defense picked up as the home team hit .320 for the match on 45 kills, while holding the Huskies (4-10, 0-1 GW) to just a .120 clip and 34 kills.
Senior Britta Hanson (Thompson, N.D.) led the team with 14 kills, while sophomore Devin Trefz (Bagley, Minn.) added 13 kills, while hitting .500 for the match (13k-1e-24a). Hanson also connected on a high rate of her attacks, finishing with a .478 percentage (14k-3e-23a).
"It was great to be at home and we had a great crowd, over 500 people. It was fantastic," first-year head coach Ashley Hardee said. "They helped us out a lot through some tough stretches in game one, allowing us to come back.
"We made some defensive adjustments after that first game, holding their hitting percentage down and we did a great job offensively all night."
UND got off to a quick start in its first home match of the season, building a 3-0 advantage on a pair of HBU attack errors. But, the Huskies withstood the early run by the Sioux and seized the momentum to establish a 16-10 lead mid-way through the first set.
The Fighting Sioux did not back down though, rallying with a run of their own to square the match at 24-24. After a service error by UND put them behind by one, the Sioux struck for the final three points and junior Erin Joki (Grand Rapids, Minn.) delivered the final two with a pair of kills to earn the pivotal first set.
UND jumped out to a 5-0 advantage in the second set and never trailed en route to a 25-17 victory. The Huskies closed to within two points at 9-7, but the Sioux went on a 10-4 run to extend their lead to a comfortable margin at 19-11. Back-to-back kills by seniors Megan Langseth (Alexandria, Minn.) and Hanson closed out the set for UND.
The third set went back-and-forth early on with the teams even at 14-14 before the home team reeled off six-straight points to take control of the set. The Sioux would go on to win the set 25-18 and pick up their third sweep of the season.
With six block assists, Hanson moved into fifth place on the UND career charts in the category with 297. Langseth added 35 set assists for the Sioux, while sophomore Annika Smed (Albert Lea, Minn.) led the club in digs with 12.
The Sioux will be back in action on Saturday against another Great West opponent as Texas-Pan American visits Grand Forks for the first time. Match time is scheduled for 7 p.m.
