Northern Districts had added 54 for the last two wickets to push on to post 339.
The Volts were rolled for 258 and they only had themselves to blame for a chunk of the dismissals.
But Thomas O’Connor struck late to offer some hope. The left-armer bowled seasoned opener Jeet Raval with a ball that nipped back through the gap between bat and pad.
Northern Districts will resume on eight for one this morning. They have a useful lead of 89 runs with two days to play in the crucial Plunket Shield encounter.
The Volts' second innings hit an early speed bump.
Jacob Cumming was trapped lbw for seven.
But Tom Jones looked in sublime touch. He raced through to 28 and crushed a drive off the back foot, which just screamed class. Few could have played it better.
But he tried to repeat the dose shortly after and this time steered it to the man at point.
The Volts went into the lunch break at 77 for two.
Thorn Parkes made a poor decision shortly after the resumption. He tried to reverse sweep left-arm spinner Tim Pringle and was bowled around his legs. Ugly dismissal that.
Jack Boyle and Troy Johnson steadied the innings, putting on 51 for the fourth wicket.
But a double breakthrough from Zak Gibson left the innings teetering.
He nicked off Johnson for 23 — Bharat Popli’s 100th first-class catch — and Luke Georgeson got an edge third ball, leaving the Volts 128 for five.
But Boyle remained resolute at one end, while the in-form Max Chu also looked assured. They added 78 to get Otago out of some trouble.
Josh Brown employed a Neil Wagner-type line to break the partnership. He dug in a series of bouncers and filled up the leg side with fielders.
The plan had no right to work. He had eliminated most of the modes of dismissal, but it paid off all the same.
Chu (40) could not resist swinging. He failed to connect and it trickled from his arm on to the stumps.
There is nothing but regret when you get out in that fashion.
Northern Districts were emboldened by the tactic and brought Kuggeleijn back on to attack in the same fashion from the other end.
It worked again. Boyle gloved a pull shot through to the keeper, bringing his fine innings of 85 to a soft ending.
The morning did not go to plan for the Volts. The visitors had resumed on 285 for eight and they got on with it.
Kristian Clarke set the tone with an early scoop shot off Danru Ferns for four. He lofted a couple of sixes as well.
Brown banged 22 runs in a 33-ball cameo, which featured the most majestic drive off O’Connor.
It was a damaging 37-run partnership.
Clarke (38) was the last man out when he tried to ramp the ball over the third man boundary.
In the other games, Canterbury lead Central Districts by 159 runs with 10 second-innings wickets in hand, while Auckland is in the box seat against Wellington at the Basin Reserve. The Firebirds are 65 for four in their second innings and need a further 40 runs to make Auckland bat again.
Lachie Stackpole thumped an undefeated 172 for the Aces.
