AMES, Iowa-- Freshman Courtney Place led a resilient UND volleyball team as it outlasted a talented Dayton team for a 25-23, 25-20, 15-25, 22-25, 16-14 win in the season opener at the Cyclone Invitational hosted by Iowa State University. North Dakota (1-0 overall) won the first two sets but had to rally in a fifth and deciding set to take the match against the defending Atlantic-10 regular season champions.

Place recorded a double-double in her first collegiate match with a team-best 15 kills while adding 13 digs. Sophomore Faith Dooley had 14 kills, including three of North Dakota's final five points in the decider. Senior McKenzie Hart chipped in 31 digs in a match that saw numerous rallies extended with solid play by UND's back line defenders.

"I thought what we did that was huge was our team turning towards each other when we were down instead of against each other," UND head coach Mark Pryor. "I think the game was a little fast for some of the newcomers in the first set, you saw that early on with us have multiple hitting errors early. Win or loss, this was huge in our develop as a program from a trust standpoint. They are going to be one of the top teams in the Atlantic-10, so this win doesn't stink."

UND scored the first point, but didn't lead again until 18-17 in the opening set. In fact, UND had to battle back from a seven-point deficit as attack errors early helped the Flyers mount a 12-5 edge. With the score tied at 23-23, Chelsea Moser powered home her fourth kill of the opening set, part of her 13 for the afternoon, to prompt a Dayton timeout.  Another Moser kill and a Flyer attack error helped UND to the 25-23 win in set one.

The second set had a different feel throughout as North Dakota took the momentum and ran, racing out to a 7-2 edge to force an early timeout by Dayton. The Flyers closed within a couple points on a few different occasions, but three straight UND points finished off the set and North Dakota took a 25-20 win and a 2-0 lead into the intermission. A key point in that frame was with UND leading 14-12, senior McKenzie Hart had a pair of standout saves and classmate Lauren Clarke added another rally-lengthening dig that set the tone for the entire match.

Dayton would not go quietly, however, turning the tables with a 25-15 win in the third set. It appeared to be going the same way in the fourth set with Dayton building a 19-10 advantage. However, an incredible nine consecutive points on the service of Moser fueled a huge run that swung momentum. Dooley was credited for four blocks in that run alone and added a kill as the reigning Big Sky Conference Freshman of the Year kicked off a good start to her sophomore campaign.

Dayton would sneak out a 25-22 win in the fourth set to force a fifth. The Flyers grabbed the first four points of the fifth set before UND took a timeout. Coming out of the break, UND scored five of the next seven points, the final coming off a Denae Dominguez service ace for a 7-5 score. The rally back from the early deficit was complete on a booming Place kill to knot the score at 8-all. The score would see five more ties before North Dakota ended it with kills off of swings from Julia Kaczorowska and Dooley for a 16-14 victory.

UND continues in the Cyclone Invitational Friday with a 4:00 p.m. match against Marquette.

Notes:
*North Dakota rallied from a 12-5 deficit in the opening set win and from down 4-0 in the decider.
*UND never trailed in the second set.
*Courtney Place, Megan Sprengeler, Denae Dominguez and Amanda Harnett each made their collegiate debuts in the win.
*It marked UND's first win in a season opener since 2010.
*UND has now won its last seven five-set matches (6-0 last season).
*Dayton was one of just 10 NCAA Division I team with 30+ wins last season and finished 56th in the final RPI rankings.