CROOKSTON, Minn. — The Minot State volleyball team is still seeking its first conference win this season after getting agonizingly close Saturday afternoon in Crookston, Minnesota.

The Beavers (1-16, 0-8 NSIC) went five sets with the Golden Eagles (4-12, 2-6 NSIC) with four of the frames decided by the minimum of two points.

After 163 points scored between the two teams, Minnesota Crookston escaped with a 3-2 victory by set scores of 23-25, 26-24, 23-25, 25-18, 17-15. The marathon match allowed for a handful of school records to be broken.

Tied at 23-23, MSU took the first set after a service error and an Emily Falldorf kill.

The second frame slipped away from the Beavers and probably could have sealed a sweep if they would have held on, but that’s hindsight. Crookston, trailing 24-19, used an improbable 7-0 run to steal the set at 26-24.

To make matters worse, MSU senior Nicole Wondrasek sustained an injury during the set and was carried off the court. She didn’t return to the match.

The Beavers eked out another 25-23 victory in the third set. Senior Shelby Spuller provided the set-winning kill.

Spuller finished with a season-high 29 kills off 84 attack attempts — a new Division II school record. The 29 kills are the third-most in the program’s DII history and most for a five-set match.

Junior libero Karli Koza also broke her own single-match DII program record with 37 digs. The previous record was 36.

Also setting personal-bests in the match were setter Mackenzie Froehlich with 51 assists and 29 digs, Quinn Billaney with 19 digs and Shae Pedersen tying a career-high with 18 digs.

All of that didn’t prevent Crookston from winning the final two sets.

Golden Eagles used an 8-0 run to get away in the fourth set for a 25-18 victory.

In the decisive fifth set, Minot High product Caitlyn Messner and senior Hayley Swain got the Beavers to match-point at 14-13 with a timely block. An attack error and an ensuing kill by Swain had MSU at match-point again at 15-14. However, two kills and an attack error allowed Crookston to score three straight points to win the match.

MSU’s 71 kills were the second-most in the DII era. The 252 attack attempts were by far the most in the DII era, smashing the previous record of 199. The Beavers also bested the program’s DII era dig record with 120.

Minot State returns to action Tuesday, Oct. 15, at 6 p.m. against Northern State at the MSU Dome.

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