GRAND FORKS, N.D. – North Dakota State held off a furious fourth set rally by host North Dakota to defeat the Fighting Hawks 3-1 (25-22, 24-26, 25-20, 25-23) in a Summit League volleyball match played before 1,261 in the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
 
NDSU beat UND for the first time since Sept. 9, 2014, ending a five-match losing streak to the Fighting Hawks. It was the first Bison win in Grand Forks since Sept. 23, 2003. The series was discontinued until 2010 and North Dakota had won eight of the last 10 meetings.
 
The Bison (8-11, 3-4 SL) are scheduled to play at Oral Roberts (6-14, 2-4 SL) at 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20, in Tulsa. NDSU moved into a tie for fourth place with Omaha in the league standings.
 
North Dakota State, which won in four sets for the first time in seven tries this season, closed out the first set with a 10-5 run. UND trimmed the lead to 23-22, but kills from Emily Halverson and Kalli Hegerle shut the door.
 
North Dakota (9-11, 1-5 SL) jumped out to leads of 10-1 and 12-2 in the second set, but NDSU stormed back and took a 24-23 lead on an Allie Mauch kill. However, UND scored the final three points including blocks from Brynn Nieukirk, Lexi Ahrens and Lydia Rutten to knot the match at 1-1. The second set was tied eight times with five lead changes.
 
The Fighting Hawks again took the high road in the third set and led 6-1. However, the Bison stormed back from a 7-4 deficit to tie the score at 7-all and steadily build a 19-13 lead on timely plays from Alexis Bachmeier, Bella Lien, Syra Tanchin, Halverson and Mauch. UND cut the margin to 20-19, but NDSU pulled away with a pair of kills from Halverson, aces from Abbi Klos and Kaylee Hanger, and kill from Bachmeier for the win.
 
While North Dakota State bolted out to a big lead including kills from Ally Murphy, Halverson, Mauch and Bachmeier, North Dakota staged a furious rally facing a 24-16 deficit to pull to within 24-23 behind net play from Ashley Brueggeman and Rutten before Halverson deposited a set from Hegerle for the match win.
 
Bachmeier led the Bison with 16 kills and 14 digs, while Halverson had 11 kills and hit .320, and Mauch connected for 10 kills. Kelley Johnson and Hegerle combined for 49 assists and 35 digs. Lien finished with five kills and three blocks, while Tanchin added nine kills. Hanger collected 19 digs, while Klos served four aces, one off her career high.
 
Brueggeman paced North Dakota with a match-high 18 kills and hit .304. UND outhit the Bison .212 to .199 and both teams finished with five team blocks. Ahrens topped the Fighting Hawks with a match-high four blocks, while Julia Vetter had 41 assists and Darian Chwialkowski recorded a match-high 25 digs.