MOORHEAD, Minn. -- Junior Kaitlin VanWinkle had 20 kills to lead the Minnesota State University Moorhead volleyball team to a 25-21, 25-16, 20-25, 25-16 win over Upper Iowa in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action Saturday night in Moorhead, Minn.

MSUM improved to 7-7 overall and 2-4 in the NSIC with the win while Upper Iowa fell to 7-7 overall and 2-4 in the league with the loss.

VanWinkle was dominant at the net, hitting .548. She also had one solo block and three assists. Senior Maggie Gruber had another strong match with 14 kills. Junior Abby Wolpern had seven kills and 13 digs while redshirt freshman Claire Grimm had six kills and three block assists. Junior setter Casie Baer dished out 26 assists while senior Sam Sullivan had 21. Freshman libero Sydney Foss had a career-high 29 digs while sophomore Kara Ziemer added 14.

The Dragons hit .247 for the match compared to .136 for Upper Iowa.

MSUM held a 20-19 lead in a close first set before scoring three points in a row to push the lead to 23-19. VanWinkle and sophomore Kelsey Hartkopf had kills during that run while Foss had a service ace. Moments later, a VanWinkle kill finished off a 25-21 win for MSUM.

The Dragons trailed 14-12 in the second set but stormed back to take a 21-15 lead thanks to a 9-1 run.  Gruber was the catalyst with six kills while Hartkopf added a kill. MSUM was never threatened the rest of the way in a 25-16 win.

Upper Iowa came back to win the third set 25-20 to climb within 2-1 in the match. The fourth set was tied at 11-11 before MSUM scored six of the next seven points to take a 17-12 lead. Ziemer had a service ace for MSUM while VanWinkle had two kills and a block assist. The Dragons rolled from there to a 25-16 win.

MSUM went 2-1 on its first homestand of 2014.

The Dragons hit the road next week for a pair of matches, starting on Friday at nationally-ranked Augustana.