Box score
BROOKINGS, S.D.-- South Dakota State defended its home court with a 25-20, 25-19, 26-24 win over North Dakota (3-4) Tuesday night at Frost Arena in non-conference play.
Sophomore Lexi Robinson notched her fourth double-double of the season with 11 kills and 14 digs. Junior Ronni Munkeby also added 11 kills while sophomore Nikki Husfeldt added 41 assists for North Dakota.
Though all three sets were tightly contested, SDSU (6-2) benefited from UND (3-4) miscues as North Dakota gave the Jacks 31 points off attack errors and service errors for the match.
"We have some issues we need to address defensively," UND head coach Ashley Hardee said. "Our effort is good, we just need to recognize things quicker. Good teams will exploit that."
UND led 15-13 in the opening set before a 6-1 spurt by the Jackrabbits prompted a timeout. An attack error and an SDSU ace followed and North Dakota was forced to exhaust its last timeout. The visitors drew within three at 23-20, but SDSU closed out the set, 25-20 to take the early advantage in the match.
SDSU rode the momentum in the second set, building a 7-2 lead and never looking back.
The final set saw UND lead for the majority of the action. Husfeldt had back-to-back service aces and UND grew a 7-4 lead early. SDSU quickly countered with a 6-1 run before UND had the answer with a 6-1 stretch of its own immediately following. North Dakota held a firm lead at 19-14, but coming out of a Jackrabbit timeout, SDSU put together an 8-3 run and the score was knotted at 22-apiece.
With the score still tied at 24-all, a UND service error and an SDSU block finished off the set and the match.
UND now prepares for three matches at the Magnolia Invitational. North Dakota will play Rice and Alabama A&M on Friday and finish the tournament against host Ole Miss on Saturday.
