GRAND FORKS, N.D.— Despite seeing its incredible school-record consecutive home set winning streak come to an end at 39, North Dakota persevered to win the match over Montana, 3-1, Thursday evening in Big Sky Conference play. It gave the Fighting Hawks their 20th straight win at home, dating back to last season and upped their record to 24-2, 9-2 in league play.

"It's not a win that I'm pleased with, but one that I'm relieved that we got," UND head coach Mark Pryor said. "Our floor defense and our blocking really saved us. Offensively, we were off in multiple positions but we were able to fight through.

Montana did not deserve to lose that match. I'm not saying they deserved to win, but they definitely didn't deserve to lose. We, as a group, have to find a way to be more consistent and if we do then the sky is the limit."

Jordan Vail had 11 kills and six blocks while Faith Dooley added 10 kills and seven total blocks for North Dakota. Sydney Griffin tallied 36 assists, 10 digs, 6 kills, 3 blocks and a pair of aces in the win.

UND seemed primed to continue rolling through opponents at home after a tidy 25-15 win in the first set. But, the upset-minded Grizzlies had other ideas by spoiling the second set and winning it, 25-22, to tie the match at one set apiece. In that frame, Montana hit .300 and rallied from down 20-18 to score the victory in that set.

Coming out of the break, North Dakota steam-rolled to the first five points to prompt a quick timeout. That stoppage seemed to quell any momentum UND had built and Montana went on to score 17 of the next 23 points to get out in front, 17-11. Later, it was 19-12 Montana until a a pair of kills from Dooley and then later two more blocks helped UND go on a run to tie the score at 22-22. Vail had a kill but Montana responded with two straight points to notch set point at 24-23. From there, a Vail kill got the much-needed sideout then Teodora Tepavac's ace would be the decider as UND escaped, 26-24.

The Fighting Hawks would again take an early lead in the fourth only to see it go by the wayside as a 5-1 advantage dissepated and Montana led 10-9. A 7-3 run for North Dakota put the home team on top, 16-12. Again, Montana would not go quietly, immediately answering with five straight points, however, Dooley would notch three more of her 10 kills from that point on to help seal the match, 25-19.

North Dakota hosts Montana State Saturday evening at 7:00 p.m.

Notes: North Dakota is 9-0 at home this season, all sweeps ... UND has now won 20 straight home matches with its last loss coming Sep. 3, 2016 vs. Texas Tech ... UND had its school-record home set-winning streak end at 39 ... UND's last set loss at the Betty was the second set of a 3-1 win over Idaho on Nov. 5, 2016 ... UND improved to 14-1 all-time against Montana ... North Dakota is 44-7 at home under Pryor in his four seasons.