SACRAMENTO, Calif.-- North Dakota out-lasted an upset-minded Weber State team in the opening round of the Big Sky Conference Tournament, 3-1, Thursday afternoon at the Hornets' Nest. The Wildcats, making their first appearance since 2008 at the tourney, rode a late-season momentum to grab the seventh seed and didn't seem satisfied with just making an appearance.

UND (28-7), the reigning league tournament champion and the two-seed in the eight-team field, had beaten Weber State, 3-0, earlier in the season but the Wildcats scratched and clawed the entire way. North Dakota got big contributions from sophomore Ashley Brueggeman, who killed 13 balls, tied with Jordan Vail for the team lead as North Dakota added to its program record for wins (28).

“Weber State was by no means a seven seed,” UND head coach Mark Pryor said of Weber State's play. “We knew that going in. We are very pleased with the result. They are an up-and-coming program in the Big Sky, no doubt about that.

“It was good for us to win that fourth set, and for us to have to battle to get it. We've had a lot of matches this year where we haven't had to battle, and I think that may have hurt us long term.  Being in those tough matches and being successful is a learned behavior. We have had a couple matches lately where we've been in the driver's seat late and just didn't finish. This match we did. We needed that stress in that moment, and we needed to see a positive result. Looks like we will be playing Idaho tomorrow, so that's a chance for us to continue to improve as a team.”

Weber (9-20) raced out of the gate with the match's first three points, taking the early advantage. But, the Fighting Hawks battled right back with an 11-4 run to force WSU to take its first timeout. The Wildcats would use their other timeout a hnadful of points later in an effort to slow down North Dakota but it failed as UND hit .421 in the first set en route to a thrifty 25-17 win.

Set two played out much differently. UND got the early edge at 4-1 but Weber State responded as Andrea Hale, who had just one kill in the first set, recorded a half-dozen in that set alone on her way to a match-high 24. Neither team had a significant advantage as there were a dozen tie scores and six different lead changes in that pivotal second set.

North Dakota seemed primed to get to intermission with a comfy 2-0 lead when Brueggeman pulled it even at 23-23 with one of her 13 kills. But, Hale powered home a kill then Kennedy Redd registered just her sixth kill of the season to wrap up the set for the Wildcats.

In the third, North Dakota again reasserted itself with a 25-19 win to reclaim the lead in the match. However, Hale had nine kills in that set as she continued to exhaust UND's front line, swinging 54 times in the match.

She'd get eight more kills in the fourth set and Weber State staved off four different match points, however, the Cats couldn't completely turn the corner. In fact, the final point of the afternoon came when Hale swung from the left side, only to be met by Vail and Griffin for the Fighting Hawks' 16th block of the match for a 3-1 UND win.

That frame featured 18 tie scores and six lead changes as Weber did all it could to oust the reigning champs from this year's bracket. UND would successfully fend off the challenge to improve to 9-0 all-time against Weber State.

Faith Dooley finished with 11 kills and nine total blocks to give her 661 for her career, surpassing Weber State Brittany Bisaillon's (2005-08) old mark of 657. Sydney Griffin came close to another triple double with 44 assists, 10 digs and eight kills. Teodora Tepavac notched 19 digs while Alivia Fraase had 15 to propel her over the 500 mark for the season and into the top 10 at UND in a single season (509). 

North Dakota will face Idaho in the semifinals. The Vandals were 3-0 winners over sixth-seeded Idaho State in the day's other quarterfinal. Friday's semifinal is set for a 6:35 p.m. first serve on Eleven Sports and Pluto TV.