FOREST CITY, Iowa  -- The Minnesota State University Moorhead volleyball team won a pair of thrilling five-set matches to open the 2016 season on Friday at the Country Inn and Suites Invitational in Forest City, Iowa. MSUM  battled back from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Cardinal Strich, 25-27, 24-26, 25-21, 25-13 , 15-4 to open the day and followed with a 25-18, 25-19, 24-26, 22-25, 15-8 win over Waldorf University to close the day.

MSUM is now 2-0 with the nonconference wins.

To open the day, MSUM rallied from a two-set deficit to beat Cardinal Strich. Redshirt freshman hitter Sarah Hagler, making her Dragon debut, had 17 kills, hitting .533 for the match. Junior hitter Carly Masloski had 15 kills while redshirt freshman hitter Ellie Rutten had 10. Freshman hitter Lily Weiser had nine kills while junior hitter Taylor Liesemeyer had eight kills.

Redshirt freshman setter Makayla Wenzel had 50 set assists and 10 digs.

Sophomore libero Monica Vega had 31 digs to pace the back row defense while junior Sydney Foss had 18 and senior Katie Meyers 12.  Masloski led the defense at the net with six block assists while Hagler and freshman Kaylyn Jenkins had five each.

Trailing 2-0 in the match, MSUM seized the momentum in the third set, opening a 6-1 lead. Masloski had two kills during that stretch to lead the way. Cardinal Strich battled back to tie the set at 21-21, but the Dragons ended strong with a 4-0 spurt, which included a service ace from Meyers and a kill from Hagler, to earn a 25-21 win.

From that point, MSUM was in firm control. Thanks to a .423 hitting percentage, the Dragons rolled to a 25-13 win. Rutten and Masloski had three kills each. In the fifth set, MSUM scored the final six points of the set to earn a 15-4 win. Rutten had four kills in the final set to lead the way.

Wenzel had a big match in the win over Waldorf, recording a career-high 63 set assists. Vega had 32 digs. 

Hagler paced the offense with 21 kills while Masloski had 20 and Liesemeyer 13. Rutten added nine kills. Liesemeyer led with four block assists.

MSUM got off to a fast start in the match, jumping out to an 11-4 lead in the first set, thanks for four kills from Hagler. The Dragons were never threatened in that set on their way to a 25-18 win.

The second set was close much of the way, and a service ace from Wenzel gave MSUM a 20-16 lead. Waldorf climbed within two but got no closer, and moments later, Hagler finished off a 25-19 win with a kill.

Waldorf won the third set 26-24 and the fourth set 25-22 to set up a decisive fifth set.  MSUM a 5-4 lead before scoring four points in a row – including two kills from Hagler – to build a 9-4 lead.  MSUM pulled away from there to a 15-8 win.

MSUM wraps up the weekend with two more matches on Saturday. The Dragons will face Central Methodist at 9:30 a.m. and Mount Mercy at 1:30 p.m.