UND coach Mark Pryor talks to his team last weekend during the UND Classic. Photo by Nick Nelson/The Dakota Student.

The UND women’s volleyball team picked up right where it left off.

After ending last season on a high note, the team put up four winning performances against Tulane and the University of South Dakota over the weekend at the UND Classic at the Betty Engelstad Arena.

The Green and White started out on Friday at 11 a.m. by defeating Tulane in three straight sets (25-17, 25-10, 25-18) and later on at 7 p.m. against USD in five sets, (24-26, 25-21, 21-25, 30-28, 15-12) including a strong rally in the fourth.

On Saturday the ladies meant business by defeating Tulane 3-0 (25-10, 25-22, 25-17) and USD 3-1 (25-22, 22-25, 25-23, 25-22).

The tournament was the first time UND played at home this season. Previously, it had three games in Washington D.C., where it dropped a pair of games to Auburn and George Washington, and defeated Arkansas State.

Getting to play at home for the first time was something everyone on the team had looked forward to.

“I don’t know what the crowd numbers were like, but that was outstanding, and that’s one of those things that’s so exciting,” UND coach Mark Pryor said. “I think it was really good for our young kids to play in this environment.”

Nikki Husfeldt also was excited about finally playing in front of a home crowd.

“It’s like nothing else,” she said. “I love it, and I look forward to it every time we have a home game.”

Husfeldt put forth a strong performance Friday night, attaining a triple double with 10 kills, 12 total attacks and 15 digs. But her mindset remained “all about the win.”

“I honestly had no idea until my coach came up to me after the match,” Husfeldt said. “I tried to keep going and just get points any way we could.”

With a loss of three seniors and a head coach that led the squad to the Big Sky regular season title last season, Pryor had much to prove in front of a home crowd.

Pryor, who was hired in Feb. of 2014, spent the last four years as the assistant coach at Baylor University.

He brought with him optimism from players, including junior McKenzie Hart.

“I thought it would be much harder than it was,” Hart said. “They have some philosophies and some things different. With (coach Ashley Hardee) it was all defense. You kind of move on. It’s in the past.”

The team believes it can go further than it did last year.

“Winning the conference championship is definitely another goal of ours this year,” Husfeldt said. “But the team had a bitter taste in its mouth after losing in the tournament. So our ultimate goal is to win the tournament and make the NCAA tournament.”

Kyle Beauchamp is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected].