FARGO, N.D.--Emily Minnick and Emily Miron led a group of five players with double-figure kills as North Dakota State University hit .316 overall and defeated Oral Roberts University 3-1 (25-17, 30-32, 26-24, 25-22) on Friday, Sept. 23, in the Summit League opener for both teams before 730 spectators in the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse. The Bison snapped a five-match losing streak with the win.

NDSU (1-0 Summit League, 3-11) is scheduled to host IUPUI (1-0 Summit League, 5-11) at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24. The Jaguars defeated South Dakota State 3-0 in Brookings on Friday.

There were a variety of options on offense for Bison setter Brianna Ramusson, who charted a career-high 54 assists. Rasmusson, a 5-foot-11 junior from Fergus Falls, Minn., recorded 18 digs, four kills, a pair of blocks and one service to complete her line. She recorded her team-high four 'double-double' of the season.

North Dakota State came out firing in the first set and finished hitting .481 compared to .118 for Oral Roberts, but the Golden Eagles rallied in the exhausting second set which featured long rallies on both sides of the court. That second set was tied 13 times and had seven lead changes.

Oral Roberts (0-1 SL, 8-7) took a 30-29 lead in set two on the first block of the match for either team by Taylan Nero and Brianna Greenlee. Minnick's kill tied things at 30-all before Laura Milos and Nero each recorded kills to end the set.

In the pivotal third set, NDSU trailed by four points several times, the last at 15-11 on a Milos service ace. The Bison stormed back with four straight to forced the first of six ties down the stretch. Minnick had three kills during that stretch and also combined with Rasmusson on the block. The last tie came at 24-all on a solo block from Jessica Jorgensen and NDSU took advantage of a pair ORU errors to win 26-24.

The fourth set was nip-and-tuck early, the Bison went on a 7-1 run to turn a 8-7 deficit into a 14-9 lead as Alex Erickson, Jorgensen, Miron and Rasmusson all turned in alert plays. NDSU did have to stop a late Oral Roberts rally.

North Dakota State hit over .300 for the second time this season. Hadley Steffen followed Minnick and Miron with 12 kills, while Jorgensen had 11 and Erickson added 10. Minnick hit .500 (13-2-22) and claimed three blocks. Mikaela Purnell came up with 17 digs, reaching double-figures for the third time in four matches.

Milos finished with a match-high 27 digs for the Golden Eagles, while Shelby Cox had 14. Lucija Bojanjac recorded 52 assists and 12 digs as ORU hit .245 for the match. Tori Roe came up 12 digs, while Nero put up a match-high six blocks.