GRAND FORKS, N.D. –Sophomore outside Lauren Perugini matched her career high in kills with a dozen at .458 and added 14 digs for the third double double of her young career as North Dakota volleyball won in sweeping fashion for the second-consecutive evening beating Western Illinois inside the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center on Friday night. The victory is the third-straight win and fifth victory in the last six matches for the Hawks who improve to 5-3 on the season, while the Leathernecks drop to 2-5.
 
The Hawks remained a step ahead of their Ohio Valley Conference foe for much of the night with the lone noticeable deficit coming in set two with the Leathernecks out front 7-3. UND responded with a 9-1 run in the frame to take a 12-8 lead. That stretch saw a trio of kills from Perugini and single terminations from sophomore Teagan Timperley, senior Jarolin de los Santos Lugo and freshman Cala Cooper.
 
Junior Paige Barber recorded nine kills of which three were hammered in the opening frame and were among the final six points scored by the Hawks. Barber added two more kills in the first four points of the third frame to give UND a 4-3 lead and the Hawks would not look back engineering a 10-4 run which included three-straight kills by Perugini. UND closed on an 11-8 run with kills coming from four different Hawks and Cooper recording three to finish with 11.
 
The Fighting Hawks prepare for their final nonconference action of the season in Wisconsin. UND heads to Green Bay for the Capital Credit Union Classic hosted by the Phoenix. NoDak matches up with Chicago State on Thursday, September 19 (4 p.m.), plays nationally-ranked Minnesota on Friday, September 20 (5 p.m.) and closes out the weekend against the host on Saturday, September 21 (2 p.m.). Live stats for the contests will be available at FightingHawks.com.
 
Postgame Notes

• The five wins in their last six matches mark the first time the Hawks have registered such success since a 2022 stretch from September 22 to October 8
• North Dakota is two games above .500 for the first time since holding an 8-6 record following a September 20, 2019, match against Akron at the UND Classic
• The Hawks earn back-to-back sweeps for the first time since taking down Kansas City (Sept. 29) and Oral Roberts (Oct. 1) in straight sets in 2022
• North Dakota forced the Leathernecks into a .076 attack clip marking the first time under third-year head coach Jesse Tupac that the Hawks have held an opponent under .100 hitting in consecutive matches
• UND posted 70 digs in a three-set match for just the second time in Tupac's tenure with the Hawks first crossing over that mark in a sweep of Western Illinois on October 22, 2022
• Senior Maddy Hornyak led with 16 digs and sandwiched Perugini with junior Izzie McCormick's 13
• McCormick recorded two aces with Hornyak and Timperley each adding one. The Hawks have totaled 47 service aces this season: the most through eight matches under Tupac
• Elizabeth Norris and Timperley paced the attack with a combined 41 helpers. Norris went over 20 assists for the 34^th time in her career
• The 44 assists are the second-most in a three-set match for a Tupac-led UND team and just one shy of the 45 recorded against Indiana State on September 2, 2022
• Santos Lugo recorded three blocks as did Cooper with Perugini chipping in twice
• WIU's Kennedy Adair recorded six kills with Keyana Cruse adding 19 digs and Maggie Craker recording 19 assists

 
How It Happened
 
Set 1: UND, 25-19
Set 2: UND, 25-20
Set 3: UND, 25-15
 
For more information on North Dakota volleyball, visit FightingHawks.com or follow on social media @UNDvolleyball.