Denver, Colo. – The Black Hills State University volleyball team split two matches at the Johnson & Wales tournament today. The Yellow Jackets were defeated early in the day by Arizona Christian but were able to rally back to a three set win over host Johnson & Wales.

The Yellow Jackets struggled to begin the tournament as they dropped a match to opponent Arizona Christian. Once again, unforced errors were the culprit for the poor showing as the Yellow Jackets lost in three sets 18-25, 22-25, and 22-25. Black Hills State was led offensively by Darbi Yost with 30 assists and two kills on five attempts.

The Yellow Jackets would respond with a heroic showing against host Johnson and Wales University. The Yellow Jackets demolished the home-court Wildcats with aggressive serving and an all-out offensive arsenal. Once again following the lead of sophomore setter Darbi Yost, Black Hills State found their stride offensively with all five hitters posting hitting percentages above .333. Junior middle hitter Kylee Lamb recorded 13 kills on 23 attempts and made only one error to post a massive .522 hitting percentage. Close behind Lamb was Caitlin Templeton's 13 kills on 21 attempts and three errors for a .476 hitting percentage. As if that wasn't enough, Amy O'Neill added nine kills with a single error, Kayla Drieling added five kills with no errors, and Holly Hamlin had four kills on just eight attempts.

"It was an all-out team effort. Every player saw the floor and every single player made a tremendous contribution in one way or another. Tonight we became the team that we have been working every day in practice to become," said head coach Sally Nichols. "Now we just have to continue to play the winning Yellow Jacket volleyball we are capable of."

Black Hills State also performed superiorly on the defensive side of the net with six blocks and 54 total digs. Freshman libero Kelsey Olson had a strong 16 dig performance to go along with three ace serves. The Yellow Jackets kept the Wildcats out of their offensive system with tenacious serving and a total of seven ace serves and only one service error.

The Yellow Jackets will play their final two matches of the tournament tomorrow. The first match against Sterling (Kan.) is set for 12 noon MT and will be followed by a 5 p.m. MT matchup with South Dakota School of Mines.

For more information on Black Hills State Athletics, visit www.BHSUAthletics.com.