TULSA, Okla. – The North Dakota volleyball team came back from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Oral Roberts in five sets (22-25, 23-25, 25-21, 25-22, 15-9) inside the Cooper Aerobics Center on Thursday night.
 
Elizabeth Norris led UND (11-11, 8-3 Summit League) with a triple-double, piling up 14 kills, dishing out 22 assists and recording 10 digs. It is her second consecutive triple-double and her fourth of the season.
 
Marissa Stockman was the next most productive attacker for North Dakota with 12 K's to go with 7.5 blocks (four solo, seven assisted). Sierra Ward finished just shy of double-digit kills with nine.
 
Peyton Sewell paced the offense in assists with 25 while contributing six digs.
 
Kortney Carney led the team defensively with 25 digs while also putting down a team-high three service aces. Her pair of aces in the third set gave UND momentum and helped turn the tide of the match.
 
North Dakota hit a .194 at the clip, compared to Oral Roberts earning a .133 hitting percentage. UND also out-blocked ORU by an 18-7 margin. The Golden Eagles (7-16, 4-7 Summit League) won the other major statistical categories of kills (65-56), service aces (5-3), assists (62-52) and digs (80-73).
 
The opening set started as a back-and-forth affair until Oral Roberts went on a 4-0 run to go up 11-6. After a couple UND points, ORU used another 3-0 spurt to go up 14-8. North Dakota trimmed the deficit to 17-13 with a 3-0 run of its own and later got within two at 22-20 after a kill from Stockman and Carney's first service ace of the match. The Fighting Hawks clawed their way into the match late at 24-22 but Oral Roberts ended the first set with a kill on the next point.
 
North Dakota led 8-5 early in set two and held a narrow 15-14 edge on the scoreboard midway through the set. Back-to-back kills from Paige Barber put the Fighting Hawks up 17-14 by the media timeout, but a pair of 3-0 runs from the Golden Eagles put them back on top at 21-20. The teams then traded points until ORU earned the final kill to take the second, 25-23.
 
NoDak led 6-3 in the opening moments of the third set, claiming the lead with kills from Norris and Katy Riviere. A 5-1 run for UND midway through the set, capped by two straight service aces from Carney had the Hawks up 16-10. Oral Roberts got within three at 19-16, before three straight attack errors from the Eagles gave UND the 22-16 advantage. The Fighting Hawks took set three by a tally of 25-21 after a kill from Norris and a terminating attack from Stockman.
 
UND trailed 7-6 in the early minutes of set three before another 4-0 run gave the Hawks a 9-7 advantage. Set four followed the same trend of the first three with neither team finding a lead of more than three points until the final moments. ORU had a 21-20 edge in the scoreboard late before a Golden Eagle attack error and a Maddy Hornyak kill put UND up 22-21. Set four ended with a 3-0 North Dakota run, with the final kill coming from Norris to make it 25-22.
 
The race to 15 points started with the Fighting Hawks trailing early before a Barber terminating attack knotted the game up at 6-6. UND forced two ORU attack errors on the next points to hold an 8-7 edge midway through the final set. A kill from Barber put Nodak up at the 11-8 mark to start a 5-1 run for the Hawks that allowed North Dakota to leave Oral Roberts with the 3-2 win.
 
Postgame Notes

• It marks UND's first five-set win when starting the match 0-2 since Sept. 7, 2019, when North Dakota came back to defeat Marist in five sets (23-25, 7-25, 25-15, 25-23, 15-13).
• Elizabeth Norris recorded her fourth triple-double of the season. Norris finished with 14 kills, 22 assists and 10 digs.
• The Fighting Hawks now hold a 6-4 lead in the series over the Golden Eagles. It is only the second time in the series where UND has went 2-0 in the season.
• UND now has 11 wins this year, the most since picking up 12 victories in 2019.
• Kortney Carney's 25 digs was good for a career high.
• Katy Riviere posted a season-best five kills.
• Marissa Stockman recorded a new career-high in solo blocks with four.

How It Happened

• Set 1: Oral Roberts 25, North Dakota 22
• Set 2: Oral Roberts 25, North Dakota 23
• Set 3: North Dakota 25, Oral Roberts 21
• Set 4: North Dakota 25, Oral Roberts 22
• Set 5: North Dakota 15: Oral Roberts 9