SEATTLE – The University of North Dakota volleyball team opened the 2026 season with a three-set loss to Eastern Washington on Friday at the Steve Nimocks Redhawk Invitational.
Eight players made their Fighting Hawks debuts, including six beginning their collegiate careers. This was also the debut of
David Nguyen as the UND head volleyball coach.
Ellee McIntosh led the Hawks with 10 kills in her collegiate debut, hitting .471.
Reagan McIntosh added a career-high 30 assists to help pace the UND offense
North Dakota utilized two liberos in the lineup, with
Skylar Darr and Katy Paez donning the colored jersey. Darr led the defenseive effort with 10 digs.
Tessa Jacobson anchored the middle with her four blocks, including UND's lone solo block of the match.
The Fighting Hawks opened the season with a block from
Lilliana Montes and
An den Hamer before
Sally Marong followed with an ace. The teams trade points early, reaming tied at 8-8 before Eastern Washington began to pull away as UND was plagued with attack errors. The Eagles eventually took the opening set, 25-17.
UND responded with its strongest offensive set of the match in the second, recording 17 kills with only four errors. Eastern Washington built a 16-9 lead, before kills from de Hammer and Elle MacIntosh helped UND to close in the gap. Later in the set, a 3-0 run but the Hawks, led by back-to-back points from den Hamer, put UND only three behind EWU.
North Dakota remained within striking distance late in the set but was unable to overcome the deficit as EWU claimed the set, 25-23. McIntosh Recorded six of her 10 kills in the set.
Eastern Washington jumped to an 11-4 led in the third set before the Fighting Hawks fought back with a 5-1 run to cut the deficit to 13-11. Marong and den Hamer each recorded two kills during the run. EWU responded with another lengthy run, creating another led UND could not overcome, taking the set 25-17 and the match in three sets.
UND returns to action tomorrow at 6 p.m. CT to face host SeattleU.
POSTGAME NOTES
- North Dakota continues to lead the series over Eastern Washington, 13-2.
- Den Hamer collected eight kills on the court, two shy of her career high.
- Ela Vlaisavljevic dished out seven assists on her own in her collegiate debute.
- The Hawks collected 42 digs compared to the Eagles 33.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Set 1: Eastern Washington 25, North Dakota 17
Set 2: Eastern Washington 25, North Dakota 23
Set 3: Eastern Washington 27, North Dakota 17
