Box score
COLLEGE STATION, Texas-- Host Texas A&M used early leads in all three sets to garner a 3-0 win (25-21, 25-14, 25-16) over visiting North Dakota Saturday afternoon at Reed Arena.
"We weren't able to get A&M out of its comfort zone and we played from behind the whole match," UND head coach Ashley Hardee said. "That's a difficult thing to do on the road against a good team."
That comfort zone was a good start in all three sets for the home team, especially the final two. North Dakota (1-2) held a brief lead in the opening set only to see the Aggies rally with seven straight points to grab a four-point advantage, 13-9. From there, A&M (2-1) seized control and took set one, 25-21.
In the second and third sets, A&M raced out to 7-2 and 8-0 leads, respectively, and never looked back.
Junior Ronni Munkeby led the North Dakota attack with nine kills, giving her 24 for the weekend. She was named to the Texas A&M Invitational All-Tournament Team for her efforts, hitting a team-leading .340 for the three matches combined.
Lexi Robinson added six kills and 12 digs Saturday while Lisa Parlich chipped-in five kills and Chandler Spearman contributed four.
UND will open its home schedule Friday, hosting the UND Classic. The two-day, four-team tournament begins with Green Bay playing Stephen F. Austin at 5:00 p.m. before North Dakota's showdown with rival South Dakota at 7:00 p.m.
Notes: UND played two teams that appeared in the preseason American Volleyball Coaches Association poll this weekend (#5 Southern California and Texas A&M, who received votes in the poll) ... USC won the tournament championship with an unblemished 3-0 record ... The Trojans' Samantha Bricio was named the tourney MVP.
