GRAND FORKS, N.D.-- Sacramento State faced a set-point in the second set that would've given UND a two-sets-to-none lead but fought it off and rallied for a 23-25, 27-25, 25-20, 25-19 win Thursday evening at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center in Big Sky Conference action.

Sac State (21-5, 8-3) remains two games back of the league leader in the chase for the No. 1 seed and hosting duties for the Big Sky Tournament as Northern Arizona (10-1) swept second-place Idaho State (9-2) Thursday night. The Lumberjacks' lone league loss came to Sacramento State on Sep. 26 and the two play again in two weeks.

"While tonight's result wasn't what we wanted at all, what is really encouraging is how the lineup we put out there kept battling," UND head coach Mark Pryor said of his injury-riddled team. "That's the first time we used that lineup live. We hit for a really low error percentage and we blocked pretty well, but we just didn't put enough balls away to stay in it with them."

North Dakota (17-11, 5-6), playing without key members and nursing several other injuries, got a big night from true freshman Grace Bettenga with a career-high seven kills in her extended action. Sophomore Faith Dooley paced the UND offense with 12 kills while Courtney Place put up a gutsy effort with 10 kills and a career-high 23 digs for her 10th double-double of the season. Senior McKenzie Hart added 27 digs to her NCAA-leading dig total (642).

Sophomore Julia Kaczorowska, a model of consistency this season playing on the left side, went down in the win over Southern Utah last Saturday. She had recorded 18 matches with at least eight kills and hit a very-efficient .218 on the season. Coupled with Place's nagging injuries keeping her off the practice floor for good stretches in recent weeks, UND's left-side attack was thinned-out, leaving an opportunity for Bettenga.

Coming into Thursday, Bettenga had played in just 16 sets and had 13 kills (only 2 in conference play), but she stepped into an extended role, finishing the night with seven kills on 33 swings. The North Dakota middles produced 23 combined kills (Dooley 12, Chelsea Moser 11), but Sacramento State's Lauren Kissell piled up 23 kills to add to her league-leading total in that category.

SAC got out to a good start, leading 13-5 in the opening set, but UND immediately began to chip away and eventually got it back to all-square at 21. A Place kill and a Hornet error ended the set 25-23, with UND grabbing a one set to none lead.

It was a back-and-forth second frame that saw 14 tie scores and six lead changes with neither team leading by more than three points. North Dakota held that advantage at 20-17 and had a 24-23 edge, looking to make it a 2-0 lead for the match. Sloan Lovett, who finished with 17 kills to complement Kissell's effort, had three kills and a block assist in the final five points to propel the Hornets to a 27-25 win going into the intermission.

The lead changed hands just two more times combined in the final two sets as Sacramento State improved its league-leading overall win total to 21 and grabbed its first-ever win over UND in Big Sky play (5-1).

Sydney Griffin posted 36 assists and 10 digs for her seventh double-double and third straight.

UND remains at home and will face Northern Colorado Saturday at 11:00 a.m.