Grand Forks, N.D. – Despite winning the blocking battle 10-4 and racking up 51 points in the three-set match, North Dakota fell in straight sets (25-21, 25-20, 25-23) to North Dakota State (12-16, 6-10 Summit) on Saturday night at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
Abi McGlynn racked up 11 K's for UND (1-27, 0-16 Summit) for a new career high.
Ashlyn Olson also put down 11 kills on a career-best hitting percentage of .476.
Maddy Hornyak also hit a season-best of .250 with nine K's on 28 attacks.
Kortney Carney led the Fighting Hawk setters with 21 assists, while
Peyton Sewell dished out 12.
Madi Hart had a team-leading 11 digs, followed by Sewell with 10.
Lexi Ahrens and
McCallister Gayle built a wall at the net with six blocks each.
All sets were close, with NDSU outhitting UND by a .270 to .222 margin. The Bison managed 11 more kills in the match, while the Fighting Hawks outblocked the Bison 10-4.
North Dakota State started the opening set with a 7-2 lead before North Dakota pieced together a 3-0 run to trim the lead to 7-4. The next consecutive points for the green and white came after trailing 10-7, when back-to-back kills from Olson and an NDSU attack error knotted the game up at 10-10. The Bison went up 12-10 when a McGlynn termination kept it close at 12-11. North Dakota State then extended its lead to 16-11 before another McGlynn kill and two errors for NDSU made it 18-13 shortly after. After trailing 19-14, UND strung together a run, highlighted by a Gayle kill to bring the tally to 19-17. At 20-17, Hornyak's kill was complimented by another NDSU attack error to bring North Dakota within one at 20-19. North Dakota State continued leading at 23-20 when McGlynn added another K before the Bison took set one by a tally of 25-21.
The Hawks built a 5-2 lead early in set two with kills from the arms of McGlynn and Olson. North Dakota State then used a 3-0 run to even the match up at 5-5. McGlynn and Hornyak had the next terminating attacks for the green and white to extend the UND lead to 8-6. The Bison used another run to claim the lead at 11-9 and Olson kept it close with a K on the following point to bring it to 11-10. Four consecutive points for NDSU extended its lead to 15-10 and a McGlynn kill cut it to 15-11. Kills from Olson, Ahrens and Gayle later in the set brought the score to 22-17 with North Dakota State still leading. Terminating attacks from Hornyak and Olson at the end of the set were not enough and NDSU took set two, 25-20.
The match remained even through the first points of set three and North Dakota led 7-5. The Bison battled their way to the lead at 11-9, but a Hornyak kill and service ace knotted the set up at 11-11, once again. A kill from Olson on the following play and another ace from Hornyak extended the Hawk lead at 13-11. NDSU used a 3-1 run to take the lead at 14-13 before another McGlynn termination evened the score up at 14-14, midway through the third stanza. It looked like the Bison finally had the advantage at 18-16, but the Hawks would not go away with back-to-back kills from McGlynn and Hornyak tying the set up again at 18-18. Three-straight points from the opposition put North Dakota State up at 21-18 before an NDSU error trimmed the lead to 21-19. The Bison remained in the lead at 23-19, but the Hawks continued fighting and came within one at 24-23, powered by kills from Hornyak and Olson. North Dakota State earned a kill on the following possession and won at 25-23.
The Fighting Hawks will now turn their attention to the Coyotes. Opening serve between UND and USD at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center is slated for 7 p.m. (CT) on Thursday.
