MOSCOW, Idaho-- North Dakota held off a fierce Idaho rally for a 3-2 win (25-23, 25-20, 21-25, 10-25, 15-9) Saturday afternoon at Memorial Gym in Big Sky Conference play.

"This match was a microcosm of our season, up and down repeatedly," UND head coach Mark Pryor said. "But when it counted, these young women came through. It was a good bounce back after Thursday night."

In what is quickly shaping into a volleyball rivalry, two of the newest Big Sky members have now played three matches to five sets in league play. In both of the matches played in Idaho, UND has held 2-0 leads and had to fend off rallies to post victories as it did Saturday.

All three of these UND wins over Idaho are part of a stretch that has seen North Dakota win nine straight matches that have gone to a fifth set.

This time, UND needed a double-double from a freshman, Courtney Place, to earn its first league win of the season. Place would kill a team-high 18 balls and add 11 digs to etch the sixth double-double of her young, budding collegiate career.

She got help from junior Chelsea Moser, who chipped in a personal-best 16 kills to go along with four blocks while sophomore Sydney Griffin posted 52 assists and senior McKenzie Hart generated a career-high 36 digs. Five different players had double-digit dig totals as Griffin, Lauren Clarke and Denae Dominguez all had 10 digs for North Dakota.

Idaho (4-10, 1-1 Big Sky) jumped out to a 9-3 and had UND (12-6, 1-1) chasing the entire first set. North Dakota didn't catch the Vandals until it was 18-all and posted a 25-23 win to take the early lead.

The visitors took control of the match with a 25-20 win in the second set, putting UND in the same scenario as last season in Moscow, up 2-0. As it did in 2014, Idaho rallied to post wins in the next two sets, 25-21 and a convincing 25-10 set four win to set the stage for the finish.

UND was up to the task, turning a 4-2 deficit into a quick 11-5 lead behind the service of Place. The 9-1 run started with her 17th kill of the afternoon with a kill and two blocks by Moser in between. Leading 13-8, UND got kills from Julia Kaczorowska and Place to finish it off for a split of the opening weekend of conference play.

North Dakota returns home for five straight matches, starting with Montana Thursday at 7:00 p.m. at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.

Notes: UND joined the Big Sky in 2012, Idaho rejoined the league last season ... UND's last loss in a five-set match was in the 2013 season (Nov. 14 at Portland State) ... North Dakota is 13-1 in its last 14 five-set matches ... UND is 27-16 in five-sets matches since transitioning to Division I (2008) ... Place has six double-doubles while Griffin has recorded four this season.