The Basics
Score: Oral Roberts 2 – North Dakota State 3
Records: ORU (2-6, 2-4 SL) – NDSU (6-2, 4-2 SL)
Location: Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse (Fargo, N.D.)
Box Score
 
FARGO, N.D. – Despite double-double efforts from three players, the Oral Roberts volleyball team could not hold its 2-1 set lead falling in five sets at North Dakota State (25-27, 25-14, 25-20, 24-26, 11-15) Monday evening.
 
The Golden Eagles allowed the first three points to go to the home side before Aixa Vigil's swing put the visitors on the board. Three-straight ORU attack errors helped the Bison to a 10-4 advantage until a Sakira LaCour kill stopped the 4-0 run. After NDSU stretched the lead to seven, the Golden Eagles scored the next five points getting consecutive kills by Jaxie Wakley, Kaia Dunford and Bryanne Soares to close the gap to 13-11. ORU had to rally again late in the frame to even the set, 21-21, as LaCour combined with Morgan Blomquist for a block, but the Bison were able to win, 27-25, on their third set point.
 
ORU fell behind again in set two and Wakley delivered with back-to-back kills pulling even at 2-2. The burst continued for the Golden Eagles as Wakley was joined by Blomquist and Vigil on blocks capping the 6-0 run and an added block made it an 8-3 margin. Another strong 6-1 push gave ORU a 14-5 advantage as Chloe Salcedo served up an ace. A perfectly called timeout settled the Golden Eagles late and they promptly won the next four points to secure the set, 25-14.
 
The third set proved to be a battle from the early stages as neither team was able to build more than a two-point advantage with five tie scores after Dunford connected on consecutive kills making it 9-9. ORU extended the run to 4-0 capped on a Vigil swing for an 11-9 lead. NDSU fought back to take a 13-12 advantage before the Golden Eagles rattled off the next five points and stretched their margin to five, 20-15, on three-straight kills before taking the set 25-20.
 
Dunford put away four kills early in the fourth set as ORU built an 8-4 edge and a pair of kills by Wakley around a Vigil ace pushed the lead to 14-10 as it looked to even the series. The Bison recovered and used a 6-1 run to jump in front, 21-19, and after Dunford scored two more kills to even the frame, 24-24, the home side claimed the next two points to win the set 26-24.
 
Wakley buried a swing on the first point of the fifth set, but NDSU posted three-straight points getting two blocks and extended the advantage to 8-3. ORU tallied three of the next four points cutting the deficit to 9-6, and had a 3-0 run getting within two, 13-11, but could not generate enough of a rally falling 15-11.
 
Inside the Box Score

• The Golden Eagles rode their highly-efficient offense hitting above .290 for the first three sets and finished at a .260 clip out-hitting the Bison by nearly 100 points.
• Wakley had her best performance of the season as the freshman tallied 19 kills on 30 swings for a .500 hitting percentage. She also led the team with eight block assists.
• Dunford reached the 20-kill plateau for the first time in her ORU career registering a season-high 25 kills and had 13 digs for her second double-double.
• Soares posted her second-straight match with at least 40 set assists and finished with 54 along with a team-best 18 digs.
• Vigil also reached double-digit kills with 11 and completed her fifth double-double of the year recording 16 digs.
• LaCour added eight kills behind a .368 hitting percentage to go with four block assists, while Blomquist had a season-high six block assists.
• ORU dropped to 1-4 this season in five-set matches.

 
Up Next
The Golden Eagles have their bye week coming up before returning to the court at the Cooper Aerobics Center Feb. 28 - Mar. 1 hosting the Pioneers of Denver with live coverage available on ORUSN.
 
For the latest information on ORU Volleyball, follow the Golden Eagles on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, or go to www.ORUAthletics.com. Fans can also receive updates on the team by downloading the ORU Athletics app from the App Store or Google Play Store.