Box Score MINOT, N.D. – Minot State University volleyball came excruciatingly close to earning its first ever Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference win.

Instead, it was Upper Iowa which fended Minot State (3-10 overall, 0-4 NSIC) and notched its first NSIC win of the season.

The Peacocks rallied for a 15-11 win in the fifth set to take a 3-2 (25-18, 26-24, 21-25, 17-25, 15-11) conference win Friday at the MSU Dome.

Upper Iowa (7-5 overall, 1-3 NSIC) jumped out quick in the first set behind the hitting of outside hitter Melanie Behnke. Behnke had seven kills in set one to lead the Peacocks to victory in set one. She led UIU with 20 kills in the match with teammate Jennifer Mundt close behind with 19 kills.

Set two was close throughout as neither team led the other by more than two points. UIU snatched the set giving them a 2-0 lead heading into intermission.

“It was easy to talk to the team at the intermission because we played such a great second set,” said head coach Travis Ward. “We did everything we needed to do to win that set, but so did Upper Iowa.”

MISU rode the momentum of a positive second set to wins in both sets three and four. Four point runs at the beginning and end of set three helped the Beavers pull away and stay out of reach. Freshman Mallory Sall (OH, Port Coquitlam, British Columbia) led the way in set four with eight kills. Sall led the Beavers with a season-high 27 kills in the match.

“Mallory is such an important piece to this team,” said Ward. “What she is doing as a freshman might surprise some people in this conference but we recruited her to be a special player here and she is just going to get better and better.”

Setter Emily Byrne (So., Reno, Nev.) played stellar with 59 assists (two shy of her career-high). Senior Shari Hewson (MH, New England, N.D.) also had a strong game with 16 kills and 13 digs.

“We've worked a lot with Emily on the motion of our offense,” said Ward. “She has matured since last year and can use criticism positively instead of negatively. She did a great job for us tonight.”

In the deciding set, it was another closely contested battle, but UIU proved to have enough to take the set and the match.

MISU will continue conference play Saturday afternoon as they play host to the Winona State Warriors at 3 p.m. in the MSU Dome.