Volleyball
Originally due to play Duke and North Carolina, the Bison shifted plans and went to Fort Worth, Texas to play Texas Christian University on Friday. The matches out east were cancelled due to Hurricane Florence.
The Horned Frogs proved too much for the Bison and won the match 3-0 (25-18, 25-16, 25-16).
North Dakota State stayed close to the hosts in the early goings. The set was tied eight times before TCU hit a streak of eight points in a row.
The second set was more of the same with the teams alternating the first 10 points. NDSU allowed a 9-2 run in the second to give TCU an unassailable lead.
Allie Mauch registered back-to-back kills early in the third to give the Bison hope. The teams swapped three-point runs in the middle of the set after TCU had retaken the lead. The Horned Frogs hit off seven straight points to put the win within reach.
Maggie Steffen claimed her fourth kill of the night to delay the win for TCU, but the match was over on the next point.
Mauch led the Bison with 10 kills on the afternoon. Alexis Bachmeier added another seven kills and 12 digs, a team high.
NDSU returns home to open the Summit League slate against South Dakota 7 p.m. Friday at Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse.
Men’s cross-country
The Bison men took sixth place at the Greeno/Dirksen Invitational hosted by the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Junior Evan Kottsick led the Bison’s effort with a time of 25:34.0 on the 8k course at the Mahoney Golf Course. The time was good for a 14th-place finish.
Sophomore Alex Bartholomay finished just behind Kottsick with a time of 25:35.3 to finish in 16th place.
Senior Elliot Stone finished in 24th place with a time of 25:49.6 to make it three Bison runners in the top 25. Junior Connor Schank and freshman Keiser Freetly placed 39th and 46th, rounding out the NDSU top five.
The University of Minnesota won the meet, and the Bison will see the Gophers again in two weeks at the Roy Griak Invitational in Minneapolis.
Women’s cross-country
The Bison women also participated in the Greeno/Dirksen Invitational and finished in fourth place out of nine teams.
Sophomore Kelby Anderson finished in eighth place as the top runner for the Bison with a time of 21:33.6. Anderson was the highest placed non-Big Ten runner at the meet.
Behind her, the Bison registered another pair of top-25 runners. Fellow sophomores Brynnan Covington and Jen Dufner finished 21st and 24th with times of 22:16.1 and 22:29.0, respectively.
Senior Annika Rotvold finished 31st with a time of 22:41.6 in front of senior Katie Bostrom’s time of 23:04.4, good enough for 43rd place.
For Covington and Bostrom, the times were personal bests in the 6k event.
The Bison women will also travel down to the Twin Cities for the Roy Griak Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 29.