Box Score


NEWARK, NJ—North Dakota extended its winning streak to eight straight matches with a come-from-behind 3-1 (23-25, 25-21, 25-19, 25-22) victory at NJIT Saturday afternoon in Great West Conference women's volleyball in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
The triumph also gave the two-time defending conference champion Fighting Sioux their 20th overall win of the season, as they upped their record to 20-4 overall and 6-1 in the Great West. NJIT is 2-5 in conference play and 7-15 overall.
 
North Dakota got a match-best 23 kills from freshman outside hitter Lexi Robinson, plus 10 kills from senior Tia Russell.
 
UND's attacking depth was on display, as three other players notched at least seven kills for a team that began the day without its season kills leader, 2010 all-GWC first-team honoree Devin Trefz, and then lost another 2010 first-team all-GWC pick, Annika Smed, to an injury in pre-match warmups. Smed, who is second on her team in kills for the season, subbed in briefly in the first set, but she was not effective hitting and did not appear in the next three sets.
 
Freshman setter Nikki Husfledt picked up 53 assists for the Fighting Sioux, who also had an 11-7 lead in service aces against NJIT, which often has the advantage in that phase of the game. Robinson and Ronni Munkeby led the winners with three aces apiece.
 
On defense, senior libero Taylor Bohannon came up with a match-best 27 digs for North Dakota. Lisa Parlich's four block assists paced the Sioux. Parlich, a sophomore middle, had an impressive hitting percentage of .429 (7 kills, 1 error, 14 attempts).
 
NJIT had three hitters with double-figures in kills, topped by Janet Snell's 19. The junior had a strong match, making just two errors in 45 swings for a .378 hitting percentage. Renata Pandolfo had a double-double, with 12 kills and 10 digs, while sophomore Cathy Leung, who had her first career double-double in the previous match against Utah Valley, did it again vs. North Dakota, with 10 kills and 12 digs.
 
Julia Colombo led NJIT in aces, with three, while Anna Mercado finished with 34 assists.
 
The digs leader for the Highlanders was senior libero Audrey Snell (20), while Colombo and Gretchen VonKoenig each had three blocks. VonKoenig had two block solos and a block assist, while Colombo's blocks were one solo and two assisted.
 
North Dakota, which swept NJIT (25-18, 25-10, 25-19) when the teams played in Grand Forks on October 6, came into Saturday's match with a three-match streak of 3-0 wins and the Sioux had swept six of the seven wins in their seven-match overall streak coming in.
 
The string of 3-0 wins ended win the opening set, as NJIT was a 25-23 winner, paced by five kills for Janet Snell. As a team, the Highlanders hit .324 in the frame, with 13 kills and one error in 37 swings. UND's Robinson had seven kills without an error in 14 attacks.
 
Down 7-10 in the first set, NJIT went on a 7-0 run with Colombo serving. Smed then made what would be her only appearance of the day, entering to serve for the Sioux down, 11-14. She served five straight points, generating two aces, as her team swung back into a 16-14 lead.
 
There would be four ties between 17-17 and 22-22, before NJIT finally gained the upper hand on a Janet Snell kill and a block by Janet Snell and VonKoenig. North Dakota got back a point, but Colombo finished the set with a kill.
 
The Highlanders continued their momentum into the second set and broke on top, 11-7, before Robinson changed things for UND with seven straight service points, three of which were aces. Urlich had a kill and a block assist in the spurt.
 
As in the first set, there were three more ties down the stretch, with North Dakota equalizing the sets with a 5-1 close to break a 20-20 tie. Four different players had kills for the Sioux in the decisive spurt, with set point coming on a block by Ulrich and Parlich.
 
The Fighting Sioux dominated the early part of the third set, jumping to an 8-2 lead. NJIT, which trailed the entire set, got back to within two points three separate times, the last at 16-18. However, North Dakota finished with a 7-3 spurt, capped by an Ulrich kill that made it 25-19.
 
The visitors produced another strong start in the fourth set, opening an 8-3 lead and staying on top until four straight attack errors turned a 19-16 North Dakota lead into a 20-19 NJIT lead.  Down a point, the Sioux responded with four straight points and a 23-20 advantage. Back-to-back North Dakota errors pulled the Highlanders back within a point at 22-23, but that was it for NJIT, as Robinson nailed her 10th kill of the set for point 24 and Russell clinched the match with her third kill of the set.
 
NJIT will return to action on Tuesday night at 7 pm, when the Highlanders host a non-conference match against Lafayette in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.