OMAHA, Neb. -- The University of North Dakota volleyball team fell to Omaha, 3-1, in the opening game of the Omaha Classic. 

Following a sucessful weekend in Iowa, UND looked to carry the momentum it gained from the trip into Omaha, but tonight was not UND's night.

"We knew this year was going to be up and down with young players, and tonight proved it.," said head coach Mark Pryor on tonight's match. 

North Dakota knew it had to face the hosts in a hostile enviornment, but after the atmosphere in Ames last weekend, UND was ready for the crowd. 

However, it was UNO who came out with the first punch as the Mavericks used a run in the middle of the first set to push the hosts to a 25-18 victory in the first set.

"We played against a team that has multiple returners and they really did a great job of defending their home court," Pryor said of Omaha.

UND knew that it could not drop the second set to the home team, so the green and white found a late push in the second set to pull away for the 25-21 win. 

With the game tied at 18, UND pushed ahead with a 5-0 run led by the service of Chelsea Moser to give UND the distance it needed for the win in the second set. 

UND was able to grab all the momentum following the second set, however, the ten-minute halftime awaited and proved helpful for Omaha. 

As the third set started, UNO showed its ability to rebound when the Mavs jumped out to a 13-3 lead to start the set. Then UNO saw its lead grow to as large at 19-9 as UND couldn't get anything going against the UNO defense. 

UND did not give in, however, as the green and white climbed right back into the set with a 7-0 run and cut the UNO lead to 22-19. 

The Mavs eventually pulled away to claim the third set, 25-19. 

The fourth set saw a back-and-forth affair, with both teams trading runs. However, with the scored tied at 14, UNO was able to take the match with a 11-4 run to claim a 25-18 win.

"We followed our game plan and really slowed down the players that we needed to in order to be successful," Pryor said of his team's performance. "Unfortunately we did not have near enough offensive production to take advantage of that."

The loss was UND's third consecutive loss, the longest losing streak since 2013 when UND lost five consecutive games. 

North Dakota returns to action Saturday with a doubleheader as UND faces Central Florida at 10:30 a.m. before taking on Drake at 4 p.m.