Box Score MINOT, N.D. – The Minot State volleyball kicked off their Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference opener with a thrilling 3-2 Thursday night in the Minot State Dome.

The Beavers (5-5 overall, 1-0 NSIC) defeated the Minnesota State University-Moorhead Dragons (7-2 overall, 0-1 NSIC) in five sets, 25-19, 25-15, 25-23, 26-24, 16-14.

In 2012, it took Minot State 12 attempts to win their first NSIC match. But in 2013, it's a different team with a different attack that allowed them to pick up NSIC win number one on the first try.

"Honestly, it's just so nice to be healthy this season," said MISU head coach Travis Ward. "Last year our main focus was just trying to stay healthy. This year we have a group of kids that really believe in what we are doing. We have depth and that is going to help us tremendously moving forward."

In the first two matches, Minot State rolled over the Dragons as the Beavers hit .273 and .276 compared to MSU-M hitting .128 and .094. The Beavers continued to look strong in the third set, building a 23-19 advantage. It was then that MSU-Moorhead turned things around and rallied six straight points to take set three 25-23.

"We've been in the situation before," said junior outside hitter Jen Dixon (Brandon, Manitoba). "We've been up and should've been winning in three sets; we've taken it to five sets. We learn from it, we stay calm, we stay focused and we knew we could get the job done."

The Dragons took another close set in the fourth despite hitting just .089 on 45 attempts from the floor. Minot State committed a match-high seven errors in set four to keep MSU-M out of reach.

In the decisive fifth set, it was the balanced attack of Dixon, Mallory Sall (So., OH, ) and Lauren Dunkle (Fr., OH, Aurora, Colo.), who each had three kills in set five, that allowed the Beavers to prevail victorious.

For the match, Dixon led MISU with 19 kills while Dunkle and Sall each had 16 kills apiece. Setter Emily Byrne (Jr., Reno, Nev.) dished out a season-high 55 assists in the win. The Dragons were led by Kaitlin VanWinkle and Morgan Gradishar as they each collected 13 kills on the night.

"They left the deep corner open for me," said Dixon. "I was constantly aiming for hands and I just kept trying to keep it in play. It worked out well and it got me a bunch of kills. Our whole offense really did a good job, they left some open areas and we were able to find them."

Defensively for Minot State, five different players recorded double digit digs, led by freshman Alexis Boutin (L, Parker, Colo.). Dixon also had 20 digs, making her one kill shy of her first career 20-20 game. The Beavers also recorded four solo blocks and an impressive 20 assisted blocks, the most blocks in a match since 2009.

The Beavers will trek south to take on Northern State University in Aberdeen, S.D. on Saturday Sept. 21 at 5 p.m. Minot State will be searching for their first ever back-to-back NSIC wins.