AMES, Iowa-- Playing its second match of the day against another NCAA Tournament team from a season ago, the University of North Dakota volleyball team made Marquette sweat, literally, in a four-set marathon that the Golden Eagles won 25-20, 22-25, 25-23, 32-30 Friday in the second match of the Cyclone Invitational at Iowa State University. MU was forced to try to slow UND's momentum and quick pace on several occasions before finally outlasting UND in a thrilling affair.

"I couldn't be more pleased with day one," UND head coach Mark Pryor said after a solid first day of the season. "It's pretty obvious that we aren't going to go undefeated but for us to play as well as we did against both of these team states a lot about this team's character, drive and their purpose in improving the program. I think Sydney Griffin is really doing a great job with our tempo. She's made a great commitment to defense, as well, and it shows."

The first set was tight throughout with eight tie scores and four lead changes until a Marquette service ace broke an 18-all tie. From there, MU ran off six of the final eight points to grab a 25-20 win in the opener. The Golden Eagles used a .452 hitting percentage to gain the advantage with redshirt freshman Taylor Louis collecting eight kills against just one error in that frame alone.  

UND slowed her down significantly in the second set, allowing her just four kills and forcing her into three errors as North Dakota took control early and hung on for a 25-22 win. It was a 4-0 run to jumpstart the set that got it going and North Dakota was out in front until an 11-11 tie midway through. Marquette took its first lead of the second set with four straight points for a 17-15 lead.

But, UND responded with four consecutive of its own and did not look back. Julia Kaczorowska finished the win with a kill as North Dakota hit at a .375 clip in set two.  

With UND trailing 7-3 in the third, freshman Amanda Harnett blasted a kill that helped change the tone with North Dakota scoring five of the next six points. The score would be tied four more times with Marquette sneaking out a 25-23 win to reclaim the advantage in the match.

An epic set four started inauspiciously for North Dakota as it trailed 15-9. A timeout helped regroup as UND rallied to grab a lead with a 9-2 spurt. The score would be tied a dozen more times with neither team holding an edge of more than two points the rest of the way. UND had four different set-point opportunities but Marquette withstood the barrage and finally put the set and match away on its fourth match-point opportunity for a 32-30 victory.

The duo of Louis (27) and Meghan Niemann (21 kills) combined for 48 of Marquette's 71 team kills. The Golden Eagles hit .333 for the match but had to withstand numerous long rallies from a North Dakota bunch that played nine sets in under seven hours' time.

Faith Dooley's 16 kills led the way for UND with Chelsea Moser adding 15. Sophomore setter Sydney Griffin posted her second straight 50-plus assist match with 60 helpers while adding 13 digs. Courtney Place recorded her second double-double of the day with 10 kills and 11 digs.  

North Dakota faces host Iowa State Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in the tourney's finale.