The Bison volleyball team traveled to Tucson this past weekend to take on the undefeated Arizona Wildcats this past Thursday, and despite falling in straight sets, the Bison kept it close through all three. Lauren Jansen and Ali Hinze set the pace for the NDSU hitting attack, logging eleven and nine kills, respectively, and Jansen also tallied five digs and one assist. Emily Bruss led the team with 17 assists, and freshman Maddy Dombeck added another eight. Senior defensive specialist Logan O’Brien was able to record 10 digs in the loss. The Wildcats had two players, Jaelyn Hodge and Carlie Cisneros, with double-digit kills, and Cisneros added three service aces and 10 digs in the win.
NDSU was able to pull back within one at 17-16 after Arizona jumped out to an early 16-11 lead. Two straight kills made it a 20-19 game, but the Wildcats ended set one on a five-point run to close it out. In set two, after a back-and-forth match, Arizona used a three-point run to take a 20-17 lead late and staved off a push by the Bison to wrap it up at a final score of 25-20. An early six-three lead for the Bison quickly diminished after a 14-7 run by the Wildcats made it 17-13. Any comeback effort from the Bison came up short, as the Wildcats wrapped up set three and the match with a final score of 25-22.
The Bison were able to get back on track in their last non-conference game of the year as they took down Southern Utah in four sets. Ali Hinze and Alexis Boling were the pacemakers for the Bison offense, and Hinze logged 15 kills, 3 assists, and 8 digs. Boling added 12 kills, Lauren Jansen and Baily Randall both good for 9 kills as well, and Jansen added a career-best 14 digs. None other than Logan O’Brien once again led the team in digs, logging her second most of the season with 23. O’Brien has had only one game this season with single-digit digs. The Bison had their second-best hitting attack of the year, recording 58 kills on 133 attempts, good for a .323 percentage, and the NDSU defense held the Thunderbird offensive to just a .182 hitting percentage.
The Bison got off to a slow start, with Southern Utah able to grab the first frame by a final score of 25-23. NDSU flushed it and came out hot in the second set, with an 8-2 run thanks to a couple of Ali Hinze kills. The Bison stayed hot and got out to a 14-7 lead and were able to keep the Birds at bay as they finished out set two, 25-17. NDSU used another good start in the third set, getting off to a 15-10 lead. The Thunderbirds tried to close the gap with a couple of kills, but the Bison used a service ace from O’Brien to extend the lead to 19-12. The Bison were able to cruise the rest of the way and wrapped up set three, 25-20. NDSU used an 8-1 run after starting down 6-4 in the fourth set to win the set by a score of 25-15 and the match 3-1.
The Green and Gold will look to keep the momentum as they head to St. Thomas this Thursday at 7 p.m. to open up Summit League play.
This article was written by sports writer Sam Huesby.