Laramie, Wyo. - The University of North Dakota volleyball team dropped both of its matches in the opening day of the UniWyo Cowgirl Invite on Friday. Fresno State defeated the Fighting Sioux, 3-1 (23-25, 25-21, 25-17, 26-24), in their opening match before the host Cowgirls swept UND, 3-1 (25-22, 21-25, 25-18, 25-22), in the nightcap.
Senior Britta Hanson had the first double-double of the season for the Sioux in the match vs. Wyoming, finishing with 10 kills and a career-high 12 block assists. UND set a school record in the match with 32 block assists in a four-set match.
Hanson also had eight kills and tied her then career-high with nine total blocks in the Fresno State match. Sophomore Devin Trefz (Bagley, Minn.) had 12 kills in both matches to pace the Sioux offense in that category.
"We were not as aggressive as we needed to be attacking the ball against Fresno State and it cost us in the end of the match," Hardee said. "We were more physical against Wyoming offensively and we did a great job of blocking. But, we didn't handle the volleyball enough to go on long runs and that caused us to fall a little short."
In the Wyoming match, the Cowgirls took the opening set 25-22 before the Sioux responded to win the second set, 25-21. With the second set tied at 20-20, Hanson sparked UND to a 25-21 victory picking up a pair of kills and two blocks assists in those final five points.
A 6-1 run by Wyoming midway through the third set stretched the Cowgirls lead to five and they would go on to post a 25-18 victory to take a 2-1 advantage going into the fourth set.
The Sioux rallied in the fourth set to square things away at 18-18 after trailing by four points, but the Cowgirls withstood the late UND rally to capture the fourth set, 25-23 and post their second victory of the day.
In the opening match vs. Fresno State, the Sioux rallied to take the first set, but the Bulldogs responded by winning the next three to secure the 3-1 victory.
FSU controlled the early portions of the first set, leading by four points on a number of occasions, but the Sioux climbed back in the set to tie the score at 12-12 on an attack error by the Bulldogs.
The teams then went back-and-forth before UND took its first lead of the set at 24-23 and clinched the set at 25-23 on back-to-back attack errors by FSU's Baylee Platt.
UND held a 16-15 edge in the second set before the Bulldogs went on a 10-5 run down the stretch to even the match at a set a piece.
In the third set, the Bulldogs raced out to a 13-4 advantage and held on to post a 25-17 victory and take the lead in the match.
The Sioux appeared as though they would force a fifth and decisive set, but after holding a 15-8 advantage and a 24-21 lead, the Bulldogs rallied and closed out the match on a 5-0 run and deal UND its first loss of the season.
Hanson took over seventh place on the UND career lists for total blocks (323) and sixth in block assists (278) after compiling 21 in the two matches.
Senior Amanda Polzin (Hutchinson, Minn.) had 13 kills and only two attack errors in 27 attacks. She led the Sioux in attack percentage in both matches with a .556 mark (5k-0e-9a) vs. Fresno State and a .333 mark (8k-2e-18a).
Senior Lindsay Vortherms (Windom, Minn.) also moved up the UND career charts with 21 digs in each match on Friday. Her 42-dig total on the day gives her 1,382 for her career - a total that ranks third in school history.
UND will wrap up play at the UniWyo Cowgirl Invite on Saturday against Montana State at 5 p.m. CT.
