Grand Forks, N.D. – North Dakota set season-highs of 74 kills, 64 assists and 118 digs in a five-set thriller against Western Illinois (4-19, 3-9 Summit), but it was not enough as the Fighting Hawks dropped a 3-2 decision (24-26, 30-28, 25-22, 20-25, 13-15) to the Leathernecks at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center on Thursday night. In the match, seven UND (1-23, 0-12 Summit) players set career-highs.

Lexi Ahrens led all players with a career-best 25 kills, hitting a sizzling .431 at the clip on 51 attacks. McCallister Gayle also chipped in a career-high 13 kills, four digs and the first service ace of her collegiate career during a crucial turning point in the second set.

Madi Hart was the top defensive player in the match with a career-best 39 digs.

Elizabeth Norris notched her third double-double of the year with a career-high 17 digs while dishing out 21 assists.

As a team, North Dakota built a wall at the net with a 23-13 blocking advantage, six of those being assisted rejections from Ashlyn Olson setting a new career best in blocking assists. Olson also added a career tying 11 kills on the night, while Kelly Wahl pitched in double digit kills with 11.

Julz Carlat rounded out the career day for UND with four kills and eight digs. Maddy Hornyak dished out two assists, good for a career-high, while also putting down five kills in the match.

Despite the result, North Dakota held the edge in the statistical categories of points (90-81), kills (74-67), total blocks (13-8) and assists (64-62). Western Illinois claimed the advantage in the statistical category of service aces (6-3) and digs (122-118).

In set one, Western Illinois went up 13-8 early after firing off four points in a row and built its lead up to 18-14 when the Fighting Hawks cashed in on miscues from the opposition and a Hornyak kill to pull within one at 18-17. Following that point, WIU recorded four-straight points to go up 22-17. Three consecutive attack errors from Western Illinois trimmed the lead to 24-21. A WIU service error, an attack error from Western Illinois and Ahrens's sixth kill of the opening set evened the tally at 24-24. Two WIU kills ended set one at 26-24.

The first three points of set two for UND came from Ahrens to pull within 4-3. Gayle knotted the game up at 4-4 with her first kill of the set. The first run for North Dakota came after being down 9-8, when the Hawks added three consecutive points to go up 11-9. Shortly after that point, a pair of kills from Ahrens and single kills from Gayle and Carlat gave North Dakota the 15-12 lead. The teams started trading points and pairs of points until kills from Olson and Ahrens put UND up 21-17. WIU used a 3-0 run to climb back into the set at 21-20. The teams traded runs until the match evened up at 25 all. A kill from Hornyak brought the crowd to its feet at 26-25 but the Leathernecks scored the next to points to claim the 27-26 lead late. An attack error from WIU and Gayle's first service ace of her career gave North Dakota momentum at 28-27. Western Illinois knotted the match up once again with another kill, before a Leatherneck service error and Wahl's fifth kill of the set ended it to give North Dakota the win at 30-28 and even the match up at one set apiece.

The Hawks flew out to a 15-7 lead early in set three, a stretch that featured six kills from Gayle. A kill from Carlat, a WIU error and another kill from Ahrens put North Dakota up 18-11 before Western Illinois went on a 5-0 run to cut the lead down to 18-16. Kills from Hornyak and Wahl increased the lead to 20-16 before the Leathernecks responded with three consecutive points. A pair of kills from Norris, along with single kills from Olson, Gayle and Ahrens ended set three (25-22), giving North Dakota the 2-1 advantage after three.

Western Illinois used scoring runs to claim a 13-8 lead midway through set four and had a lead of 19-14 late into the set. Kills from Gayle and Olson brought the Hawks within three at 19-16 before the Leathernecks increased their lead to 23-18. Two WIU kills and a UND service error gave Western Illinois set four by a tally of 25-20.

The two squads traded points at the beginning of set five until Western Illinois recorded three-straight points to go up 8-6. A kill from Wahl and a Leatherneck attack error tied the game at 8-8 midway through the set. WIU scored the next point before North Dakota went on a 3-0 run to claim an 11-9 advantage late. The Leathernecks responded with two points of their own to even the set at 11, once again. Carlat's kill broke the tie to put the Fighting Hawks up 12-11, before Western Illinois fired off three consecutive points to go up 14-12 in the final moments of the match. An attack error from Western Illinois gave North Dakota a chance at 14-13 but the match ended with an UND service error to give the Leathernecks the set and the match by a score of 15-13.

North Dakota will continue its homestand on Saturday with St. Thomas. The Fighting Hawks and the Tommies will battle at 1 p.m. (CT) at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.