MINOT, N.D. – After a brief break from Northern Sun play and a dominating performance over Dickinson State, the Minot State University volleyball team returned to NSIC play with a convincing 3-1 win over Bemidji State Friday night.

"I think if we play like we did tonight, we've got a good chance to win the next couple of matches," Minot State head coach Travis Ward said. "We're playing good ball, and I think I've been saying it for a couple weeks, so it's nice to see it finally start to come together."

Minot State came out ready to play right from the get go as they got out to an early 9-6 lead. After the match tightened itself back up in the middle of the set, MSU put their foot down at the end and scored six straight points to take the first set 25-18.

Bemidji State pushed the home Beavers in the second set, but Minot State came away with the second set as they headed to the 15-minute intermission.

A refocused Bemidji State group took the floor in the third set, building a 12-8 lead early on. A couple of three-point runs in the latter part of the set proved to be too much for Minot State to overcome and Bemidji forced a fourth set by taking the third, 25-16.

Heading into the fourth set, Ward sent a clear message to his team and they responded well.

"I said it starts over," he said. "Right now nobody's got a kill and nobody's got an error and nobody's done anything good or anything bad. It really doesn't matter."

Minot State had control of the fourth set getting out to an 11-6 lead and the team never looked back. A four-point run that extended their lead from 15-11 to 19-11 left the game all but over. MSU went on to win the game 25-16 and the match 3-1.

Jen Dixon (Sr., OH, Brandon, Manitoba) continued to hit the ball well after an outstanding performance against Dickinson State where she had a hitting percentage of .733. Tonight she finished with a .303 hitting percentage, 14 kills and 15 digs.

Tarah Dabovich (Jr., MH, Phoenix, Ariz.) had a game-high .409 hitting percentage and ended the match with 11 kills of her own. Mallory Sall (Jr., OH, Port Coquitlam, British Columbia) was the third Beaver to record double-digit kills in the match. She tallied 12 on the night.

Cindy Pelo (Jr., L, Idaho Falls, Idaho) led the way defensively as usual for Minot State with 16 digs. Rachel Fagerburg (Fr., OH, Tempe, Ariz.) also did well defensively recording 13 digs in the match.

The win brings Minot State's overall record to 7-16 and 4-10 in the NSIC. Bemidji State falls to 4-18 on the season and 2-12 in the Northern Sun.

The Beavers are riding a two-game winning streak heading into their match with Minnesota-Crookston tomorrow night at 7 p.m. If Minot State pulls out a win tomorrow, they'll start their first three-game winning streak of the season.