GRAND FORKS, N.D. – North Dakota dropped a 3-2 decision (25-20, 22-25, 23-25, 25-15, 6-15) to North Dakota State (18-8, 11-3 Summit League) in a battle for the state inside the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center on Saturday evening.
 
Elizabeth Norris put down her sixth triple-double of the season for UND (12-13, 9-5 Summit League). She piled up 12 kills for a hitting percentage of .241. Norris paced the team with 19 assists while also recording 12 digs.
 
Marissa Stockman had the best hitting percentage for the Fighting Hawks, putting down 12 K's on 22 attacks for a percentage of .318. Ashlyn Olson joined Stockman and Norris in double-digit terminating attacks, also racking up 12 kills on the night.
 
Paige Barber was just shy of double-digit kills, recording seven K's to go with three digs and two blocking assists.
 
Kortney Carney paced the team defensively, putting down a team-high 19 digs while dishing out five assists. She also had a team-high two service aces.
 
Peyton Sewell split the setting duties with Norris and accounted for 16 assists and a service ace. Maddy Hornyak and Izzy McCormick also created one service ace each.
 
Seven different Fighting Hawks had at least one blocking assist, led by Sophia Orquist with four blocking assists.
 
In the match, UND earned a hitting percentage of .124 with 50 terminating attacks on 153 swings. Comparatively, NDSU hit at a percentage of .162, recording 53 kills on 154 attacks. The Bison held the edge in kills (53-50), service aces (7-5), blocks (14-8) and assists (49-43). The Fighting Hawks won the digging battle by a 61-55 margin.
 
NoDak led 8-3 early in set one following back-to-back kills from Norris. UND would hold the lead until the 15-13 mark, when consecutive attack errors for the Fighting Hawks allowed the Bison to even the set up at 15-15. Later in the set, North Dakota would go on a 6-1 run to lead 24-19, with the rally highlighted by two kills from Stockman. Two points later, UND would take the set by a 25-20 score.
 
The second set was knotted up at 9-9 early before a 7-2 run from the Bison put them up by a 15-11 margin. The Hawks clawed back into the set late, scoring four straight points to even the tally up at 21-21. Lipetzky started the UND run of points with a kill, followed by two straight K's from the arm of Norris. After that point, North Dakota State scored four of the last five points with kills to take set two, 25-22.
 
After intermission, UND led the third set 8-6 early and held a 13-12 edge on the scoreboard midway through the set. The Bison went up 16-13 moments later, with three kills and a UND attack error. North Dakota closed the gap to 22-21 late in the set after back-to-back service aces from Carney. Next, NDSU would go up 24-21 with two kills in a row. The Fighting Hawks stuck around after a kill from Sierra Ward and an attack error from NDSU to get within one at 24-23. NDSU's Michelle Glover ended set three with a kill to give North Dakota State the set by a score of 25-23.
 
UND bounced back in the fourth, opening the set with a 6-1 lead, highlighted by three kills from Olson. North Dakota extended its lead to 11-3 moments later on a McCormick service ace. NDSU trimmed the lead down to 12-7 after going on a rally of their own before UND would go on another 3-0 run to make it 15-7. A few points later, North Dakota would lead 18-10 before extending its lead to 22-14. UND ended set four with a 3-0 run to take the match by a tally of 25-23 with the North Dakota defense forcing two North Dakota State attack errors to end the set.
 
The Fighting Hawks led 3-1 early in the race to 15 points. After that point, the Bison would go on a 4-0 run to claim a 6-3 lead. North Dakota would make it 6-4 on the next point before NDSU went on a 5-0 run to take a commanding 11-4 lead late. The Fighting Hawks would get two points defensively off Bison attack errors later in the set, but it was not enough as NDSU took set five (15-6) and the match.
 
Postgame Notes

• This five-setter was the fourth consecutive five-set match for the Fighting Hawks.
• North Dakota took sets one (25-20) and four (25-15) but stumbled 25-22 and 25-23 in sets two and three. North Dakota State took set five and the match by a 15-6 tally.
• With her sixth triple-double of the season, Elizabeth Norris now trails only Josi Borum of Youngstown State in the triple-double category this season. Borum currently has nine triple-doubles.
• Paige Barber tied her season-highs in digs (three) and blocking assists (two).
• The match was played in front of 1,469 fans inside the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.

How It Happened

• Set 1: UND 25, NDSU 20
• Set 2: NDSU 25, UND 22
• Set 3: NDSU 25, UND 23
• Set 4: UND 25, NDSU 15
• Set 5: NDSU 15, UND 6