Vermillion, S.D. – North Dakota dropped a 3-0 (25-14, 25-14, 25-17) decision to South Dakota (9-7, 6-1 Summit) at the Sanford Coyote Sports Center on Monday night. Attacking woes doomed the Fighting Hawks in the match hitting a -.051, compared to the Coyotes firing .269 at the clip.
Lexi Ahrens led the UND (1-19, 0-8 Summit) offense with 10.5 points, including four kills, one service ace and three blocks (all assisted).
Taylor Pribyl was the second most effective offensively with five points to go with four K's, three digs and two blocking assists. Courtney Karney paced the Hawk offense with eight assists, while adding a service ace.
Elizabeth Norris also had one service ace.
Madi Hart recorded a team-high 15 digs and dished out three assists.
Maddy Hornyak was second on the team defensively with seven digs.
South Dakota controlled the match winning the battle in kills (37-19), aces (8-3), blocks (8-4), assists (35-16) and digs (53-40).
To start the match, The Fighting Hawks rallied to a 5-2 lead early featuring kills from Hornyak, Ahrens and a service ace from Norris. USD quickly responded with a 4-0 run to claim a 6-5 lead. The Coyotes continued battling their way to a pair of 4-1 runs to bring the tally to 14-7 midway through the first set. South Dakota built their lead to 18-10 before North Dakota was able to put together a 3-0 run of their own with a Coyote attack error, and a kill from both Ahrens and Pribyl to cut the Coyote lead to 18-13. Despite the rally, USD went on to take set one, 25-14.
In the second set, USD led 22-9 before the first UND run that included a series of attack errors for the Coyotes and a Pribyl kill to trim the lead down to 22-13. The Coyotes finished the set with a 3-1 scoring advantage to win the set 25-14 and lead 2-0 at the break.
South Dakota led the entire final frame starting with a 5-0 lead and never looking back. The biggest Fighting Hawk rally came after being down 22-13. Norris started the 4-1 rally with a kill, followed by a Carney service ace, a USD attack error and concluded with a Hornyak kill to bring UND within six at 23-17. USD recorded the final two points to win the set 25-17.
The Fighting Hawks will continue their road trip on Saturday with a battle against the Bison in Fargo at 7 p.m.
