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GREELEY, Colo. -- Northern Colorado and North Dakota State know each other better than they know any of the other teams in the field for this year's Hampton Inn & Suites Northern Colorado Classic.

So, it came as no surprise Friday night that the Bears and the Bison couldn't come to a decision in ther nightcap match until NDSU's Lauren McGlaughlin's smash to the right side skipped past Northern Colorado's Breanna VanDerMost to secure a 3-2 win inside Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion.

Northern Colorado, which fell to 4-2 on the season with the loss, will next play against Eastern Michigan at noon Saturday, Feb. 5, before closing out the Classic on Saturday night with a match against Miami.

The Bears came into Friday on the heels of their historic victory against Colorado on Tuesday, and a letdown seemed like a definite possibility against the Bison. That wasn't the case early on, though, as Northern Colorado came out on fire against their old North Central Conference rivals, hitting .342 in the first set and easily dispatching the Bison 25-19.

North Dakota State (3-1) came back and won game two 25-21, but head coach Lyndsey Benson's program came out of the intermission break with a 25-20 victory and were up 15-8 in the fourth set before running out of steam and falling 26-24 in game four and 15-11 in the decisive set.

The Bears and the Bison have played against each other since 1979, spanning 45 matches and nearly 30 full seasons. With Friday's loss, Northern Colorado is 21-24 agianst the Bison, including a loss last year in North Dakota State's tournament.

"This is definitely a disappointing loss," Benson said. "We felt like we were in a great position there in that fourth game, but NDSU really came back on us and earned their victory. It's always nice to play on your home court when you're taking part in a tournament, but, unfortunately, we couldn't take advantage tonight."

Northern Colorado got 42 kills from the trio of Kenzie Shreeve (16), Ashley Lichtenberg (16) and Allison Raguse (14) and a match-high 34 digs from Breanna VanDerMost.

Lichtenberg's night (16 kills, two errors, four digs and two blocks) continued the remarkable start to her season. After the Bears' six contests this season, the junior from Bettendorf, Iowa, is hitting a robust and team-leading .471.

"Ashley's been great for us all season," Benson said. "And that continued tonight. She's really come into her own in this third season and she's definitely going to have to continue to play well if we're to have the type of success we want."

North Dakota State was led by Chrissy Knuth's 16 kills, Kelly Lopez's 24 digs and Jennifer Lopez's four service aces.