ST. PAUL, Minn. – Elizabeth Norris recorded her fourth triple-double of the season, but St. Thomas defended its home court with a 3-1 (25-18, 29-27, 23-25, 25-19) victory over North Dakota on Saturday afternoon in St. Paul, Minn.
Norris put together another strong all-around performance, leading the team with 13 kills, matching teammate Izzie McCormick with 11 digs and dishing out 18 assists to notch her fourth triple-double of the season. Overall, the Fighting Hawks attack struggled to get in sync, as the green and white hit .154 in the match while the Tommies hit .237.
NoDak started quickly in the first set, jumping out to a 6-2 lead as Teagan Timperley recorded back-to-back aces to finish off the run; but UST went on a 16-5 run that gave them an 18-11 lead. From there, UND could not catch up and the Tommies went up 1-0.
The hosts built up a 19-12 lead in set number two, but the Fighting Hawks went on an 11-3 run in the second set to go up 23-22 in another frame that required extra points. Kaycee O'Dell and Lauren Perugini both had two kills in the run. NoDak had the first three setpoints of the frame, but UST fought them off. UND fought off the first UST setpoint at 27-26 to knot it back up at 27, but the last two points went to UST as they went up 2-0 in the match.
A 3-0 run in the middle of the third set by the green and white tied the stanza up at 14, with a kill by Maddie Lipetzky, a block from Norris and Jarolin de los Santos Lugo and capped off by a kill from Norris. UND closed the set on a 10-6 run to win the set, with two kills coming from Perugini.
The Fighting Hawks were unable to take the lead in the fourth set, but down 22-14 a 5-1 run for the green and white cut the deficit to 23-19; with Paige Barber picking up two kills. But the Tommies got the last two points to finish the set and match.
Four matches remain this season for UND, the next two coming at South Dakota and South Dakota State before they close out the season at home against Kansas City and North Dakota State.
For more information on North Dakota volleyball, follow on social media @UNDvolleyball or visit FightingHawks.com.
Postgame Notes
· Norris hit over .300 for the fourth time this season with a hitting percentage of .385.
· Timperley set a new career high with 24 assists, and a team high three aces.
· Norris, McCormick and Maddie Lipetzky all recorded an ace.
· Marissa Stockman led the team with four blocks, all assisted, while Norris had three.
· Maddy Hornyak recorded double-digit digs with ten, joining Norris and McCormick.
· Norris joins Jalyn Stout (Coastal Carolina), Ashley Wang (Harvard), Josi Borum (Youngstown State) and Carisa Barron (CSU-Northridge) as the only players nationwide with four or more triple doubles.
How it Happened
First set: UST 25, UND 18
Second set: UST 29, UND 27
Third set: UND 25, UST 23
Fourth set: UST 25, UND 19
