HOUSTON - Led by strong performances from senior outside hitter Annika Smed and redshirt freshman Nikki Husfeldt, the Fighting Sioux captured their fourth straight victory with a 3-1 win over Houston Baptist. The win improves North Dakota's record to 16-4, 3-1 GWC, and snaps a three-match, Great West Conference winning streak for HBU (16-6, 3-1 GWC).
"This was a really important win for us to start this long road trip," head coach Ashley Hardee said. "Houston Baptist is a great team, and they didn't come into tonight's match 16-5 overall and 3-0 in the conference by accident."
North Dakota won the initial set by a hard-fought score of 30-28, but Houston Baptist quickly tied the match at 1-1 with a 25-18 win in set two. The Fighting Sioux took a 2-1 lead over the Huskies with a 25-20 victory in the third set.
In the fourth set, the Sioux worked their way to a 10-6 lead, but the Huskies fired back with four straight points to even things at 10-10. A 10-5 run put the UND up 20-15, but HBU didn't back down as the Huskies landed three straight points to cut the margin down to two. With a scatter of kills down the stretch, the Fighting Sioux won the set 25-21, and took a 3-1 match victory over the Huskies.
Smed, a native of Albert Lea, Minn., tallied her seventh double-double of the season, finishing with 13 kills and 18 digs. Also with 13 kills was senior middle blocker Tia Russell (Brooklyn Park, Minn.). Sophomore middle blocker Lisa Parlich (Delevan, Wis.) added 12 kills and sophomore middle blocker Ronni Munkeby (Lisbon, N.D.) contributed 11 kills as the Sioux finished with a .258 hitting percentage.
"Four players finishing with double-digit kills is a pretty balanced package," Hardee said. "Nikki did a great job of not only moving the ball around, but she also had a couple of great opportunities to score herself."
A native of Andover, Minn., Husfeldt registered her fifth double-double of the season with a career-high 50 assists and 11 digs.
Defensively, Smed and Parlich each finished with a team-high four blocks. Husfeldt and senior libero Taylor Bohannon (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) added 11 digs apiece to Smed's team-best 18.
North Dakota will continue its conference play in Texas on Saturday when it faces Texas-Pan American. First serve is set for 2 p.m. in Edinburg, Texas.
- Go Sioux -
