ST. PAUL -- Eight points separated North Dakota State from the University of North Dakota Saturday.
Yet the Bison swept the Sioux 33-31, 31-29, 30-26 in the semifinals of the NCAA Division II North Central Regional volleyball tournament at the Gangelhoff Center.
So what exactly was the slight difference? Perspective.
UND (19-12) had never previously been to the regional semis and coach Maria Bruggeman volunteered that her team was "pretty happy to be in the second round of the tournament" and that running into rival NDSU only added to the pressure.
The Bison, meanwhile, playing in a ninth consecutive regional, "had this expectation all year long," according to coach Zaundra Bina.
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And, "It didn't matter for me as beating UND," said NDSU junior outside hitter Kim Hebl, who had a match-high 17 kills. "It's beating a team that's in this position."
Perspective.
It was the reason the No. 2-seeded Bison (25-8) owned crunch time and advanced to meet either top-seeded Concordia-St. Paul (29-3) or fourth-seeded Augustana (23-7) at 7:30 p.m. today in the finals.
They trailed 24-18 in Game 1 and faced two game-points only to rally behind three kills and an ace by freshman outside hitter Sheila Parrish.
NDSU then squandered a five-point deficit to trail the sixth-seeded Sioux 27-26 in Game 2 only to steal another victory. Even Game 3 was tied at 24-all until UND, which needed five games to beat Minnesota-Duluth Thursday night and was hampered by injuries to two starters, ran out of gas.
"It could have swung either way," Bruggeman said.
"It was very important to win Game 1 and get the momentum on our side, the confidence on our side," said Parrish, one of four Bison in double-figures with 12 kills, "and start the match the way we wanted to start the match."
Starting wasn't the issue for UND, which finished 0-3 against NDSU this season in perhaps the final contests between the longtime foes. (The Bison are moving to Division I next year.)
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"It was definitely nerves," said Sioux senior outside hitter Liza Sorteberg, a West Fargo product. "We always get up for the Bison but at the same time we'd never been in this position before."
And most of NDSU's players had, but experience alone doesn't win matches.
"Our team increased the intensity in those times we needed to instead of holding back," Bina said. "This team trusts they can do the little things to get through."
Those things don't always show up in the final statistics.
NDSU (kills-blocks-aces): Parrish 12-1-1, Haider 10-2-0, Holmgren 1-0-2 (46 assists), Gronner-Roisum 11-3-0, Rieck 8-3-0, Hebl 17-2-2, Battey 0-0-0, Harvey 0-0-0, Ruebke 0-0-0 (20 digs), Shockman 0-0-0.
UND: Skadeland 2-1-2 (42 assists), Sorteberg 7-0-0, Tuve 9-0-3, Hanson 12-2-0, Heltemes 6-0-0, Cahill 11-1-0, Delahanty 0-0-0, Evans 1-0-0, Winters 0-0-0 (15 digs).
Readers can reach Forum reporter Terry Vandrovec at (701) 241-5548
