Chrissy Knuth had 16 kills to lead three players in double figures as top-seeded North Dakota State beat Oakland in four sets Friday, Nov. 18, in the Summit League volleyball semifinals.
Megan Lambertson added 14 kills and Brynn Joki had 13 for North Dakota State, which won its ninth straight match 25-15, 22-25, 25-22, 25-18.
The Bison (25-8) advanced to their fourth straight title match Saturday at 7 p.m. ET against No. 3 seed Oral Roberts (20-9), which beat IPFW in five sets in the second semifinal.
Knuth had seven kills in the first set as the Bison cruised to the 10-point win. Then Oakland's Meghan Bray took over the offensive show.
Bray, Oakland's leading attacker who had only seven kills total in two regular-season matches against NDSU, erupted for 12 of her match-high 19 kills in the second set to tie it.
Oakland, which ranked first in league play in digs but last in blocks, benefitted from several block touches at the net to slow down NDSU. The Golden Grizzlies outdug NDSU by three and had a 10-8 advantage in blocks.
Lambertson hit .464 with only one error in 28 attacks and Knuth hit .308. NDSU setter Jennifer Lopez had 46 assists and had 18 digs, and libero Andrea Henning made 18 digs.
Libero Alli Kirk made a match-high 28 digs for Oakland, which made its first tournament appearance in 13 years of league play. The Golden Grizzlies had a six-match winning streak snapped and ended their season 18-11.
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