VERMILLION, S.D. - In the first meeting since North Dakota snatched a 3-1 victory over South Dakota to win the 2010 Great West Conference Tournament title, the Fighting Sioux continued their dominance over the Coyotes with a hard-fought, 3-2 (25-21, 24-26, 25-15, 23-25, 15-11) victory. The win extended UND's winning streak over USD to eight straight matches and put the Sioux on a 12-match winning streak as they head into the regular season finale against Utah Valley.
"This was a very competitive rivalry matchup," head coach Ashley Hardee said. "In sets two and four, we had a couple of stretches where we didn't play solid, fundamental volleyball. We made a few too many errors and that allowed South Dakota to build some confidence. But we never backed down, and that's the key."
The Fighting Sioux opened with a 25-21 victory in the initial set, but the Coyotes clawed their way to a 26-24 win in the second set to tie the match at 1-1. With the help of four separate three-point runs, the Sioux regained the lead, winning the third set 25-15.
In the fourth set, UND soared to a 9-1 advantage, but USD managed to clear the deficit and push the frame to a 21-21 tie. After trading points, the home team won the set 25-23 and pushed the match to a fifth and final set.
UND solidified the victory with a 15-11 win in the fifth set and extended the winning streak to 12 straight matches.
"Ronni led us at the net in the final set," Hardee said. "She landed some critical blocks at the beginning, and that really fired the team up for the win."
Ronni Munkeby, a sophomore middle blocker from Lisbon, N.D., finished the night with five blocks, including a pair of solo stops. With the addition of five blocks (one solo) from senior middle blocker Tia Russell (Brooklyn Park, Minn.), four blocks apiece from redshirt freshman setter Nikki Husfeldt (Andover, Minn.) and sophomore middle blocker Lisa Parlich (Delevan, Wis.), and a pair of solo stops from senior outside hitter Annika Smed (Albert Lea, Minn.), the Sioux out-blocked the Coyotes 16-11.
UND also went big on the dig as five players finished in double figures. Senior libero Taylor Bohannon (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) led the team with 22 digs, Smed finished with 19, true freshman outside hitter Lexi Robinson (Ramsey, Minn.) tallied a career-high 16, sophomore defensive specialist Erica Turner (Andover, Minn.) recorded 12, and Husfeldt dug up 10.
Offensively, Smed led the way with 18 kills to finish with her third straight double-double. Also doubling up was Robinson who finished with 14 kills. Russell rounded out the trio of top scorers with 11 scoring attacks.
Husfeldt upped her game once again, finishing with a career-high 58 assists to tie this season's Great West single-match record set by Houston Baptist's Victoria Weatherly (Oct. 6 vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi). Husfeldt has now recorded seven of the top 11 assist performances in the GWC this season.
The Fighting Sioux are off until Nov. 11 when they step onto the court in Orem, Utah, to battle the Utah Valley Wolverines for the 2011 Great West Conference regular season title.
- Go Sioux -
