The win meant Otago secured second place for the second consecutive season.
But before the Volts could perform their victory song, the team was in for a good barracking from coach Vaughn Johnson.
Some irresponsible batting threatened to undo a lot of good work and Johnson was not well pleased.
''I'm a little bit angry right now simply because of the way we batted in the second innings,'' Johnson said.
''I think a lot of it came down to a little bit of cockiness and they are just about to be addressed on that.
''But I don't want to take the gloss off a great win, because it was a great win.''
Northern Districts posted 324 in their second innings, leaving Otago a target of 131.
But what appeared to be a modest run chase got tense with a flurry of wickets falling. Otago slumped to 79 for six. The batting unit was guilty of pursuing the target too recklessly.
Opener Hamish Rutherford will not remember the match fondly. He made a golden duck in the first innings and then a two-ball duck in the second.
Aaron Redmond and Neil Broom were trapped lbw. Michael Bracewell and Jesse Ryder threw their wickets away.
Jimmy Neesham danced down the wicket and was beaten by a wrong 'un from legspinner Ish Sodhi and BJ Watling whipped off the bails.
The innings was falling apart but Nathan McCullum (38 from 32) and Derek de Boorder (14 from 19) saved Otago's blushes.
McCullum's knock completed a good day for the off-spinner.
He combined with Nick Beard to take seven of the nine Northern wickets that fell yesterday.
McCullum perhaps did not always get the reward he was due. Three for 110 does not do justice to how threatening his bowling was at times.
Beard was more steady than menacing and finished with four for 62 from 32 overs. He benefited from a couple of cheap wickets at the end but kept niggling away and was great value.
Northern had resumed on 117 for one with Daniel Flynn on 37 and Joe Carter on 67.
Carter (87) perished first. He tried to pull out of a Neil Wagner bouncer but feathered an edge.
That dismissal sparked a mini collapse with Watling, Flynn and Bharat Popli getting out in quick succession.
McCullum claimed Watling's wicket with a real ripper. He tossed it up and it bit out of the footmarks, turned past Watling's defensive shot and crashed into the leg stump.
That moment of brilliance perhaps created some doubt in Flynn's mind. He had watched it from the non-striker's end and could have only admired what was a fabulous delivery.
Whether he was unsettled or not, Flynn (50) was suddenly tentative and was pinned down in McCullum's next over.
More doubt crept in and then he just played the wrong line and was trapped in front by a pretty innocuous delivery. Put his wicket down to pressure.
At five for 165, the visitors desperately needed some relief and Mitchell Santner (56) and Scott Kuggeleijn (61) provided that with a 107-run stand.
Kuggeleijn's footwork left a lot of room for improvement and he threaded the ball through or past the slip cordon too often to provide any real comfort. His luck ran out when he tried to loft a delivery from Beard down the ground.
Santner succumbed to inspired bowling from McCullum. He pushed out too far at a delivery and flicked it to straight to Bracewell, who was under the helmet on the onside.
It was not the first time Santner had played the ball in the air in that region and McCullum, having noticed a weakness, chipped away until he got the desired result.
