Courtesy: Matt Clemetson, FightingSioux.com Sophomore Annika Smed registered her seventh double-double of the season to lead the Sioux to a share of the Great West regular season title and their ninth straight victory.
Newark, N.J. — Sophomore Annika Smed (Albert Lea, Minn.) registered her seventh double-double of the season to lead North Dakota to a 3-0 sweep of New Jersey Institute of Technology on Saturday. Smed had 15 kills and 13 digs as the Sioux (19-6, 10-1 Great West) clinched at least a share of the Great West regular season championship with their ninth straight victory.
UND also became the first team to sweep NJIT (16-9, 6-4 GW) at the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center this season as the Sioux blanked the Highlanders (25-16, 25-16, 25-17) for the second time in two weeks.
“This was a great win for us to finish up the road trip,” UND head coach Ashley Hardee said. “We played really well offensively and Annika and Devin (Trefz) were fantastic. It was very similar to the first time we played them. We played at a high level again and now we are excited to come back home and try to win the title outright on Senior Day against South Dakota.”
For the match, the Sioux dominated both sides of the ball out-killing the Highlanders 50-21 as sophomore Devin Trefz (Bagley, Minn.) joined Smed with a double-digit kill effort. Smed led the way with a .354 (15k-3e-34a) attack percentage as the Sioux held a .278 to .045 edge in hitting.
Trefz had 14 kills for the match to bring her season tally to a new career-high of 325. She hit .294 (14k-4e-34a) as well and had five kills in the opening set as the Soiux posted 17 kills compared to just four for the Highlanders. Smed also added five in the opening game, while senior Megan Langseth (Alexandria, Minn.) set up all 17 kills and finished with 41 assists in the match.
UND also had 64 digs to the Highlanders 42. Senior Lindsay Vortherms (Windom, Minn.) led a trio of Sioux in double figures in that category with 17.
It was much of the same in the second set as UND once again was victorious by the score of 25-16. The Sioux ceased control after it was 10-10 when Smed had back-to-back kills to spark a 4-0 run. The Higlanders never got closer than a two-point deficit the rest of the game as junior Erin Joki (Grand Rapids, Minn.) finished it off with her third kill of the match.
UND finished off the sweep with a 25-17 victory in the third set once again behind the strong attacking of Trefz and Smed. The Highlanders had the Sioux within a point early in the set, but Trefz had three kills during a 7-0 run to spread out the game. Joki logged the final three kills to finish the match with seven.
The Fighting Sioux will look to clinch the regular season title outright next Saturday at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center with a match against South Dakota at 1 p.m. UND’s four seniors will be honored following the tilt with the Coyotes in a post-match ceremony.
Courtesy: Matt Clemetson, FightingSioux.com
