WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- Junior Maggie Gruber had a season-high 17 kills to lead the Minnesota State University Moorhead volleyball team to a 25-17, 25-16, 19-25, 25-16 win over McKendree during the final match of the Peggy Martin Challenge in Warrensburg, Mo., on Saturday. The win gave the Dragons a split on the day as they fell to No. 7 Central Missouri, 25-16, 25-19, 23-25, 25-18 to open play on Saturday.

Gruber and sophomore Kaitlin VanWinkle were named to the all-tournament team for the Dragons (7-1), who finished the tournament 3-1.

"Many players were expected to step up into different roles this weekend and that's exactly what everyone did," MSUM head coach Tammy Blake said. "We executed during play, and when things weren't falling our way, we could count on our teammates to get us going again. Overall, we really came together as a team. We used this tournament to prep ourselves for the beginning of the conference play."

In the win over McKendree, VanWinkle added 11 kills, while sophomore Abby Wolpern added eight. Junior Sam Sullivan had 21 set assists and 15 digs, while sophomore Casie Baer added 20.  Sophomore Morgan Gradishar had 10 digs to go with seven kills.

MSUM held a 16-14 lead in the first set but closed on a 9-3 run to earn a 25-17 win.  Gradishar had two kills during the run, while VanWinkle had a kill and two block assists.

The momentum spurred the Dragons into the seond set, when they stormed out to a 10-2 lead. Sullivan had a kill and a service ace during the run while AnWinkle had two kills and a block assist. MSUM was never threatened and rolls to a 25-16 win.

McKendree came back and won the third set 25-19, but MSUM rebounded strong to close out the match in four sets. The Dragons came back from a 7-2 deficit to tie the set at 14-14, and then scored six straight points to surge into the lead at 20-14. four of the points came on McKendree errors, while VanWinkle and Wolpern teamed up for a block. The Dragons went on to win 25-16.

Junior Annie Palmquist added six kills and seven digs for MSUM.

Earlier in the day, MSUM faced its first nationally-ranked team of 2013 and fell in four. VanWinkle had an excellent match with 16 kills and a .400 hitting percentage. Gruber added 10 kills, while Palmquist had eight. Sullivan had 20 set assists, while Baer had 18 set assists and 11 digs. Freshman Katie Meyers had 15 digs.

MSUM trailed the entire first set and fell, 25-16, and the second set followed a similar pattern as the Dragons got down 10-3 and lost 25-19.

In the third set, MSUM faced an 11-6 deficit but battled back. The set was tied at 16-16 before MSUM rattled off six straight pionts -- sparked by three Palmquist kills -- to build a 22-16 lead. Central Missouri cut the gap to 24-23, but a service error gave MSUM a 25-23 win.

The Dragons couldn't sustain the momentum into the fourth set as Central Missouri opened on a 15-4 run and earned a 25-18 win.

Gradishar added seven kills and 11 digs for MSUM. VanWinkle had a solo block and four assists.

MSUM opens Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play on Thursday at Minot State. The match begins at 7 p.m. in Minot, N.D.