NDSU moves to 4-4 in Summit league play with the win
An exciting volleyball matchup took place this week down in Tulsa, Oklahoma this past Sunday between the NDSU Bison and Oral Roberts Golden Eagles The Herd came back after being down 1-2 in sets and upset the home team.
The Bison started strong winning the first set 25-18. The teamwork shined through in this set with six different Bison getting kills including four a piece for Alexis Bachmeier and Kalli Hegerle. Bella Lien also helped the team with a service ace early on.
In the second set, NDSU started strong with their first three points coming off of some more kills from Bachmeier. However, it wouldn’t be enough since Golden Eagles would go on a 6-0 run as well as an 8-1 run later on.
Despite a 4-0 run from the Bison themselves (including back to back kills from Kirstin Tidd), the set ended with the Herd down 15-25.
The third set saw more of the same with Oral Roberts winning it 25-18. It all started pretty evenly with it being 5-6 thanks to a great start from Syra Tanchin who already had three kills at that point. From there Oral Roberst went on a 9-0 run and stayed in control for the rest of the set.
Set four saw the return of some fight in the Herd. NDSU started slow being down 6-11, however the team rallied and brought it up to 10-11 after a 4-0 run. From there it was a back and forth battle.
The set was tied at seven different point until Oral Roberts was up 24-23, one point away from taking the set and the match. Bachmeier had different plans though and came in with a kill to tie it at 24-24. Another kill from Lien made a one-point lead in NDSU’s favor.
The Eagles pushed back a bit, but when it was 27-26 NDSU, Emily Halverson finished it off with another kill giving the Bison set.
With it now 2-2, the match was heading into the fifth set with the momentum on the Bison’s side. They came out swinging 5-0 with kills from Bachmeier and Hegerle. The rest of the set stayed in NDSU’s hands with their lead never dipping below three.
They would end up winning the set 15-10 and winning the match 3-2.
In the end Bachmeier and Hegerle lead the team in kills with 14 apiece. Behind them was Lien with 8 who lead the team in aces with two and blocks with eight. Helping them through it all was Kelly Johnson who had an astounding 33 assists and 22 digs.
The Bison are now sitting even in the Summit League conference at a 4-4 record, tied with Oral Roberts. They are also 8-12 overall after the win.
The team’s next matchup is against SDSU here in Fargo on Friday, October 25 at 7 p.m..