FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- Visiting North Dakota snapped Northern Arizona's 25-match home winning streak and clinched at least a share of the Big Sky Conference regular season title with a 3-0 win Thursday evening. The Lumberjacks' streak was the second-longest running in NCAA Division I.
"These young women are just selfless and relentless," UND head coach Mark Pryor said. "I'm so happy for them. They have earned it. It was great to see their faces once that last ball dropped."
Junior Faith Dooley hit a robust .550 with a match-high 14 kills, part of three UND players with double-digit kill totals in Thursday's win. Tamara Merseli and Chelsea Moser each contributed 11 kills while Sydney Griffin passed out 38 assists.
UND (22-9, 13-2 Big Sky) wasted little time seizing control of the game, scoring four straight points for an 11-7 lead in the first set. North Dakota would not look back in that frame, eventually winning it, 25-18.
Dooley had seven of her kills in that tone-setting set, on just nine swings without an error.
North Dakota kept the momentum in the second, jumping out to a 15-6 edge and forcing NAU (21-7, 11-4) to burn through both of its timeouts. UND had set point at 24-17, but the Jacks made things interesting with five consecutive points until the Fighting Hawks finsihed it off, 25-22.
The third set saw NAU hold its largest lead all night at 8-5 but North Dakota rallied to tie it at 12-12.
"In that third set, once we tied it at 12 all, this team just had a determined look like they were going to finish it," Pryor said. "As a coach, you love seeing that. I keep mentioning how selfless they are, and that is such a great attitude to have as a team. Maybe it's part of the 'North Dakota nice' thing."
Out of the timeout, UND scored six of the next nine points for an 18-15 advantage. Moser had four kills immediately following for the next four UND points and it was quickly 22-18. With the score at 23-22, Dooley then Griffin each scored kills to finish it off for a visiting team's first win at the Rolle Center since Oct. 30, 2014.
"Our hope is that we can be really, really, unbelievably selfish and greedy the next 48 hours and have a conference championship to ourselves," Pryor said. "There's a time to share, and a time to be greedy-- now is that time. Northern Colorado is a great team coming in Saturday, and the last match of the regular season has meaning. Not a lot of programs can say that.
"We are really excited about tonight and what we have done, but tomorrow morning, we get up early and focus on Northern Colorado. That next match mentality has helped us all year, no reason to stop now."
Merseli etched her 12th double-double of the season with 11 kills and 13 digs.
UND last won a league title in 2013, sharing the Big Sky regular season with Portland State (17-3).
North Dakota's regular season-ending match against Northern Colorado Saturday will determine the host of the Big Sky Conference tournament. UNC was a 3-0 winner over Southern Utah Thursday and comes into the match at 18-9 overall, 12-3 in league play. Saturday's tilt is slated to start at 11:00 a.m. at the Betty.
