MOORHEAD, MINN. – The Minot State University volleyball team suffered a 3-0 (15-25, 18-25, 20-25) loss to MSU Moorhead on Thursday evening.
 
The Beavers played well after timeouts taken by head coach Ben Kaszeta in his team's first NSIC match of the season. Trailing 7-14 in the first set his team went on a 5-0 run to move the score to 12-14 forcing the Dragons to take their first time out of the night.
 
Minot State trailed 7-11 when Kaszeta decided to take a timeout in the second set. His team then came out and outscored their opponent 4-1 to close the gap to just one point.
 
Despite losing both of those sets in the end, Kaszeta saw some things he liked.
 
"We looked like freshmen out of the gate," Kaszeta said. "We talked in the timeouts about slowing things down and communicating. After that we came out and played well."
 
The Beavers and Dragons traded leads four times in the third set before MSU Moorhead took over after the set was tied 13-13 to take a 14-20 lead. Minot State came back within three at 18-21, but ultimately lost the set 20-25.
 
"We will learn to sustain that energy and convert better in the serve receive," Kaszeta said. "In game three we had our best game on that end, being aggressive on the serve receive. Brileigh Boyce played in her first match of the season and got four points so I was happy with her level of play coming off of an injury."
 
The Beavers were led by freshman Shelby Spuller on offense with 12.5 points coming from 11 kills and two blocks. Seniors Janelle Nagy and Cindy Pelo led the team with 14 assists and 17 digs, respectively. Shae Pedersen added to the MSU dig total with 12 of her own.
 
Minot State will host its first two home games Friday against No. 11 Northern State at 7 p.m. and Sunday against Briercrest at 11 a.m. Both games will be played at the MSU Dome.
 
About Minot State
Minot State University is a member of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) and NCAA Division II offering 14 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletics programs. The NSIC is a premier NCAA DII, 16-member conference featuring teams in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa. The Beavers are the only public NCAA Division II institution in the state of North Dakota.