GRAND FORKS, N.D.-- North Dakota ran its home winning streak to 10 with a 25-23, 25-18, 25-20 victory over visiting Montana Thursday evening at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center in Big Sky Conference play.

UND (13-6, 2-1 Big Sky) continued its dominance of Montana (4-11, 0-3), improving to 8-0 over the Lady Griz since joining the league four seasons ago. In that stretch, Montana has won just one set, but that didn't appear to be the case early.

"We started a little slow and it was one of those things where we were just pressing a litlle too much," UND head coach Mark Pryor said of the sluggish start. "We just calmed down and our serve started to take over to get them out of system a little bit. We were able to sneak that first set out. Overall, for our first conference home match it was good. We had 11 blocks tonight and that makes it a little easier for us."

The Griz led most of the opening frame and built a 20-16 advantage. From there, Chelsea Moser held serve for six straight points, burning through both UM timeouts as the home team rallied for a 25-23 win.

In the second set, the score was tight at 9-8 until a pair of 5-2 spurts propelled UND to a 25-18 win. That frame saw North Dakota hit at a much more efficient  percentage, outhitting the Griz .263 to .025 to take a two-sets-to-none lead into the intermission.

UND's middles, Faith Dooley and Moser, combined for nine kills in that set alone setting the tone for the match. The duo would end the match with a combined 19 kills with just three errors and they were the key to North Dakota's 11 team blocks.

After just three digs in the first set, NCAA digs leader McKenzie Hart registered seven in each of the final two sets to finish the night with 17. Sophomore setter Sydney Griffin had 33 assists in the win, UND's 10th straight against Montana. NOrth Dakota is now 8-0 against UM since joining the Big Sky Conference.

North Dakota will continue its five-match homestand with a Saturday tilt against Montana State at noon.