ABILENE, Texas – The North Dakota volleyball team got their first win of the 2023 season Friday, as they defeated Grambling State, 3-1, (22-25, 25-23, 25-17, 25-18) to open the weekend tournament down in Abilene, Texas.
McCallister Gayle led the team in kills with 13 in her first game of the season, while joined in double-digit kills by Paige Barber with 12, tying her career high, and Elizabeth Norris with ten. Norris also racked up a season high 25 assists and Maddy Hornyak led the team with 20 digs.
In the first set, Grambling led 3-2 early before UND went on a 7-2 run that gave the Hawks a 9-5 lead. UND would lead most of the set, but with UND holding a 22-17 lead late Grambling went on an 8-0 run to take the first set.
Grambling kept their momentum going in the second set, taking an early 5-1 lead. UND came out of a timeout with three of the next four points, starting with a kill from Ashlyn Olson and capped by an ace from Teagan Timperley to pull within two. But Grambling fought off the UND surge to keep a lead most of the set, but with UND down 20-17 late in the set a 5-0 run would give the Hawks their first lead. After losing their first set point at 25-22, UND finished the set as Gayle combined with Marissa Stockman on a block to win the set.
UND rode the momentum into the third set as they took the first seven points of the set. But in another swing of momentum, Grambling took six of the next seven points to pull within two at 8-6. Gayle started a 4-0 run for UND with a kill, followed by an ace from Skylar Darr and back-to-back kills from Barber. Grambling ended the 4-0 spurt, but UND would take seven of the next nine points to go up 19-9. From there, UND saw out the rest of the set to go up 2-1 in the match.
The beginning of the fourth set involved the teams seesawing back and forth, but down 12-11 UND went on a 5-0 run to go up for good. All five points were kills—coming from Olson, Barber, Stockman, Olson and Barber. Eventually Grambling would pull within three at 21-18, but three straight kills from Norris and an ace from Olivia De Jong would finish the match.
Postgame Notes
- De Jong set new career highs with ten digs and two service aces
- It was the first match with three Hawks had double digit kills since November 5 last season vs North Dakota State
- Trinity Blackwood picked up five kills in her second career appearance
- Timperley reached double digit assists with 12, she has reached double digit assists in all three matches she has played in
- Darr racked up four digs, two assists and an ace in her first career start
- Stockman led the team with four blocks, while Barber and Olson had two each
- UND hit .323 as a team, their highest mark since August 31, 2019, when they hit .325 against Louisiana Monroe
How it Happened:
Set 1: GSU 25, UND 22
Set 2: UND 25, GSU 23
Set 3: UND 25, GSU 17
Set 4: UND 25, GSU 18
