Tulane-South Dakota Box Score | North Dakota-South Dakota Box Score

GRAND FORK, N.D. - Senior middle blocker Melissa Firtko tied South Dakota volleyball's total blocks record for a three set match during a sweep of Tulane (25-21, 25-16, 25-13) while 25 kills from Kendall Kritenbrink wasn't enough as USD lost to North Dakota in five sets (24-26, 25-21, 21-25, 30-28, 15-12) at the Betty Engelstad Center on Friday.

Firtko recorded seven total blocks against Tulane (0-5) to tie the school record for the second time in her career. She tied it the first time against Montana State on Sept. 14 last season. She finished the day with 17 total blocks and 20 kills. Kritenbrink finished the day with 38 kills.

Both players were one of three Coyotes (2-3) to have a hitting percentage over .500 against Tulane. Firtko finished with the best percentage of .636 with nine kills while Kritenbrink was .550 on 13 kills. Sydney Dimke also reached that mark with a .538 hitting percentage on seven kills.

As a team, USD had a .434 hitting percentage while holding Tulane to a .122 mark. USD also held advantages in total blocks (11-3) and kills (41-34). Tulane had 22 attack errors in the match while USD had eight.

Audrey Reeg was the only USD player defensively to reach double-digit digs against Tulane with 10. Riley Haug added three service aces and setter Brittany Jessen had 37 assists.

Tea Juric led Tulane in kills with 14 while Laura Etten tallied 19 assists. Makenzie Frieden led the Green Wave defensively with seven digs.

South Dakota was not able to hold on to 2-1 set lead against North Dakota (4-2) despite having match point with a 24-22 lead in the fourth set. UND rallied to take the next three points to take a 25-24 lead. The sides tied at 25, 26, 27 and 28 before UND won the set on a pair of USD attack errors. USD had 36 attack errors in the match.

South Dakota jumped out to a 4-2 lead in the fifth set and tied the match at 10 after a 7-2 UND run, but then gave North Dakota four of its last five points on errors to end the match.

Kritenbrink, Reeg and Firtko all recorded double-doubles in that match. Kritenbrink added 10 digs to her 25 kills, Reeg finished with 12 kills and 19 digs and Firtko tallied 11 kills and 10 total blocks. Dimke also reached double-digit kills with 15 while Haug and Kaitlyn Hastings both had double-digit digs with 20 and 11 respectively. Jessen tallied 59 assists.

North Dakota setter Nikki Husfeldt recorded a triple-double with 50 assists, 15 digs and 11 kills. Lexi Robinson and Faith Dooley led North Dakota offensively with 13 kills each while Lauren Clarke was UND's top defensive player with 17 digs.

South Dakota will face North Dakota again tomorrow at 3 p.m.