Fort Wayne Holds Off North Dakota State 3-2 to Keep Half-Game Lead in Summit

FARGO, N.D. - Emily Spencer had 20 kills and Tessa McGill made 39 digs to lead Fort Wayne to a 25-19, 25-21, 22-25, 18-25, 15-12 win over North Dakota State in Summit League women's volleyball Friday, Oct. 26.

Spencer served two aces to put IPFW out to a 3-1 lead in the fifth, and McGill made 11 digs in the final set for the Mastodons, who improved to 21-4 overall and kept a half-game lead in The Summit League at 10-2.

Brynn Joki had 15 kills and 15 digs, Jenni Fassbender belted 14 kills and Megan Lambertson had 13 kills and 10 blocks for North Dakota State, which dropped to 10-14 overall and is tied for fifth place at 6-6 in the league.

Emily Riese came off the bench to make a career-high 34 assists and 16 digs for NDSU, which edged IPFW in hitting .202 to .199 and outblocked the Mastodons 14-9.

Lambertson had five blocks in the third set alone, including back-to-back stuffs with Riese and Dombeck to break a 22-22 tie, and the Bison closed on a 4-0 run to extend the match.  NDSU committed only one hitting error in the set.

Joki had seven kills in 11 attempts to carry the Bison in the fourth.  She put NDSU ahead 8-7 and the Bison led the rest of the way, building their biggest lead of the night at 20-13.

NDSU came back from the 3-1 deficit in the fifth to tie it 8-8, but the Mastodons got a kill from Spencer and an NDSU error to go ahead for good.  It was 13-12 before an NDSU serving error and Jessie Manwaring's block ended the match.

North Dakota State is scheduled to host Oakland at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 27.  The Golden Grizzlies are 13-11 overall and tied with NDSU for fifth place at 6-6 after losing in four sets at South Dakota State on Friday.