MINOT, N.D. – Nail-biter is the only way to describe the Minot State volleyball team's win Saturday night against the visiting Minnesota-Crookston Golden Eagles.

"Our kids offensively were great tonight," head coach Travis Ward said. "I can't tell you how many times I've said that I would give [Mallory Sall] (Jr., OH, Port Coquitlam, British Columbia) the game-point swing."

Sall's final kill, and notably her 25th kill, in the fifth set of the match solidified a victory for the Beavers in a back-and-forth affair.

In the first set of the match, the Beavers put together a string of five straight points late in the set to build a 21-19 lead, but the Golden Eagles continued to fight. They ultimately took the close set in extra points, 26-24.

Ward said the Beavers remained calm and continued to play the way they were after the first set.

"We were proud of how they were playing," he said. "We really weren't playing bad in that set. We kind of gave them a couple of unfortunate hitting errors and if I remember right a service error late in that set."

The Beavers' continued focus paid off for them in the second set as they built a 14-5 lead courtesy of seven straight points early on. They went on to close out the set comfortably, 25-14.

Success continued to fall Minot State's way as they rolled, taking the third set 25-13, but Crookston didn't go without a fight.

Minot State held a 20-17 advantage late in the fourth set and had a game-point at 25-24, but the Golden Eagles took the next three points, forcing a fifth and final set.

It looked as if the Beavers were going to come up empty handed as they trailed 13-10 in the final set, much to do with service errors, but a Crookston attacking error started a string of five straight points that allowed the Beavers to take the set 15-13. The error, two kills by Sall, a service ace from Jen Dixon (Sr., OH, Brandon, Manitoba) and a kill from Rachel Fagerburg (Fr., OH, Tempe, Ariz.) got the Beavers their third straight win of the season.

Dixon ended the match with 25 kills, a season-high and her first match with over 20 kills this season, while hitting .365. Tarah Dabovich (Jr., MH, Phoenix, Ariz.) recorded 19 kills of her own and hit a team-best .486.

The Beavers' finished with an impressive overall hitting percentage of .316.

Minot State has now won four of their last five matches as their record improves to 8-16 overall and 5-10 in the competitive NSIC. Minnesota-Crookston falls to 10-13 and 4-11 in the conference.

The Beavers will look to make it four straight wins this Tuesday when rival University of Mary comes to the Minot State Dome. The first serve is set for 7 p.m.