MOORHEAD, Minn. — The Minnesota State University Moorhead volleyball team opened Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play with a 25-23, 25-16, 23-25, 25-20 win over Minnesota Crookston in action Friday at Nemzek Fieldhouse in Moorhead, Minn.

MSUM is 4-5 overall and 1-0 in the NSIC while UMC fell to 1-8 overall and 0-1 in the league.

Junior outside hitter Bridget Witzmann led MSUM with 16 kills while sophomore outside hitter Jadyn Feist had 15. Senior middle blocker Elise Bakke and junior right-side hitter Teeya Doppler had 10 kills each.

Freshman Emily Skalicky had 39 set assists while freshman libero Macie Wieman had 19 digs. Junior defensive specialist Brooke Walthall and Witzmann had 18 digs each while Skalicky had 13.  Sophomore Abby Thompson had three block assists.

MSUM jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the opening set after a series of UMC errors and kills from Bakke and Feist. The Dragon lead stood at 22-16 at one point but UMC battled back to tie the set at 22-22. Bakke and Doppler had kills to make it 24-22, and one point later, a Golden Eagle service error gave the Dragons a 25-23 win.

In the second set, MSUM was down 12-10 but scored seven points in a row — which included an ace from junior Morgan Cleveland and a kill from Feist — to take a 17-12. The Dragons rolled from there to a 25-16 win.

UMC won a hard-fought third set 25-23 to climb within 2-1 in the match. But the Dragons regrouped in the fourth set to prevail 25-20.

Feist led with three service aces as well.

The Dragons will host Bemidji State at 2 p.m. on Saturday to conclude the weekend.