The UND women’s volleyball team celebrates during Thursday’s matchup against Northern Arizona. Photo by Nicholas Nelson/The Dakota Student.

The UND volleyball team took a much needed sigh of relief last Saturday.

After giving up back-to-back losses to Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado, UND came out with an offensive explosion to down Southern Utah, winning three out of its four games.

UND worked to get back into the win column after being swept Thursday night by Northern Arizona in its first home loss since last November. UND got out played, both defensively and offensively, as NAU had seven blocks and 27 kills between two players. The game put UND one game back for second place in the Big Sky.

Coach Mark Pryor was clear about what his team needed to fix for its game Saturday.

“What they did, is they played a cleaner game than we did,” Pryor said. “We’ve got to have six players out there and not just one stand- out. We can struggle against bigger teams, so we have to decide if we go bigger in the future or use our experience.”

Pryor got his wish against Southern Utah University, having players step up when they were needed. In the first three sets, the losing teams put up more than 20 points, creating a nail-biting ending in every set.

A crowd of 1,132 fans was there supporting its team the entire way, hooting and hollering, especially when UND came back from a big deficit in the second set, falling behind early, 8-1.

But after a six-point rally, UND was right back into it, finally catching Utah at 19 points and later ending the set with a 25-23 win off of Jessica Fontes, a senior making only her second start and finishing off the set with a kill.

UND is 7-1 all time against a Southern Utah squad that has won 12 games all season.

For UND, there was a lot to be excited about. Senior Lexi Robinson achieved two milestones throughout the game. Early in the first set, Robinson dove for a dig to keep the play alive. It was her 1,000th career dig in a UND uniform.

Later was her play in the second, when she spiked the ball for a UND point on a strong rally. This was also her 1,000th kill in a UND uniform. Robinson ended the game with 23 digs to match her career-high and recorded her 10th double-double of the season, a team high.

Another bright spot in the win Saturday was young talent stepping up offensively. Sophomore Anna Pioske had four kills in the deciding set while freshman Faith Dooley also stepped up big, leading the team with 13 kills.

UND will move on quickly as it is back in action on Thursday at Sacramento State before returning home next Saturday, looking for revenge against Northern Colorado.

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