GRAND FORKS, N.D. – The Betty Engelstad Sioux Center has often been considered a house of horrors for the visiting team, but this afternoon South Dakota turned the tables as the Coyotes swept the University of North Dakota, 3-0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-23), on Sunday in Grand Forks.
 
UND (13-12, 5-4 Summit League) suffers its first sweep on its home floor since Sept. 3, 2016 vs. Texas Tech, a span of 32 matches. The loss is also the first time since Oct. 2015 that the Fighting Hawks have dropped back-to-back contests at the Betty. USD's triumph snaps a six-match losing streak in the building, and gives the Coyotes their first win in Grand Forks since Nov. 2008.
 
On the other side, South Dakota (12-8, 6-2 Summit League) extends its stranglehold on third place in the conference standings; a lead that would have disappeared had UND won today. The top-six teams qualify for the Summit League Volleyball Tournament in Denver, Colo. in the middle of November.
 
"We just didn't put enough balls away to be able to win today," said Head Coach Mark Pryor. "When you only have two hitter hit above .200, you can't be successful. I thought we fought and I'm proud of that, but we have to find a way to manufacture points."
 
Jordan Vail led the Hawks in kills with 13, swinging 29 times for a .379 hitting percentage to lead all UND players. The conference's leader in total blocks was shutout on the day, however, registering fewer than two blocks for only the third time this season.
 
Lexi Ahrens was once again forced to play meaningful points due to Ashley Brueggeman and Brynn Nieukirk each missing their second straight match due to injury. The true freshman finished second on the team in both kills (9) and hitting percentage (.261) while also recording four digs and two block assists.
 
Taliyah Flores recorded her 20th contest with at least 10 digs, securing a team-high 21 in the loss. The freshman has now tallied nine matches with 20-or-more digs and extends her season total to 459. The Papillion, Neb., native also collected one of the two service aces for the Fighting Hawks.
 
Alivia Fraase turned in one of her finest defensive performances since moving to the defensive specialist position with 18 digs to sit second on the team in that category. The junior's 18-dig afternoon is her most since she had 21 in back-to-back matches on Sept. 14-15 at the USF Classic.
 
Darian Chwialkowski continues to improve in her fifth start of the season, eclipsing the double-digit mark for digs for the second straight match. After recording 16 digs against North Dakota State on Friday, the freshman finished with 14 against the Coyotes while also adding a pair of kills and a block assist.
 
Lydia Rutten proved to be the force in the middle for the Hawks on the defensive side, recording four rejections as well as chipping in three kills and two digs.
 
South Dakota's Hayley Dotseth finished with a match-high 14 kills while Anne Rasmussen led the contest in digs with 32.
 
North Dakota got off to the start it wanted in the opening set, jumping out to an early 3-1 lead before eventually extending the advantage to three on a pair of occasions. Vail slammed down the game's opening kill off a long rally to spark the 1,115 in attendance.
 
The Coyotes answered, however, embarking on an 8-0 run to quickly turn a 6-3 deficit into an 11-6 lead. USD pushed its advantage to as many as nine before the Hawks chipped the lead down to six on a trio of occasions, but the Coyotes held on for a 25-18 victory in the opening set and a 1-0 match lead. USD hit a match-high .255 in the frame while recording a 72% on sideouts to pick up the victory.
 
The numbers don't favor the Fighting Hawks when dropping an opening set, entering with a 0-9 mark when falling behind 1-0.
 
In the second both teams traded points to begin the frame, but another USD run took the crowd out of the match and gave all the momentum to the visitors. With the stanza tied at four, the Coyotes scored the next six points to quickly take a 10-9 lead.
 
This time UND answered in a hurry, replying with five straight points of its own to pull themselves right back into the contest and force a USD timeout. The Hawks forced a tetrad of attack errors by the visitors while also receiving a service ace from Flores to spark the rally.
 
Out of the timeout, both sides again went back-and-forth as frame was tied on seven-different occasions and saw both team hold a lead. After an errant attack by the Coyotes gave UND a 19-18 advantage, USD answered with three straight points of its own to move in front, 21-19, and force a UND timeout. The Hawks whittled the deficit down to just a single point twice, but the visitors scored three consecutive points to hold on for the 25-21 win in the second set and grab a 2-0 lead heading into intermission.
 
Trailing 2-0 in the contest, UND looked to rally on its home floor but fell victim to another long rally by the Coyotes as a 3-2 lead turned into a 9-3 deficit. Much like the second frame, the Hawks rallied by scoring seven of the next 10 points to chip the USD advantage down to 11-10 thanks to a Kayla Williams.
 
After USD answered with a 3-0 run, North Dakota came right back with four straight of its own on a kill from Williams, Ahrens, Chwialkowski, and a double block by Rutten and Chwialkowski to level the score at 14. Both sides then exchanged 3-0 runs again to keep the contest deadlocked at 17.
 
South Dakota won the next point on a kill from Dotseth and never relinquished the lead as the Coyotes held on for a 25-23 win and the sweep.
 
North Dakota returns to action with a pair of road contests beginning Oct. 19 at Oral Roberts before heading to the Mile High City to battle Denver on Oct. 21.