RAPID CITY, S.D. – The Black Hills State Yellow Jackets (8-19, 3-14 RMAC) faced off versus their cross-town rival, South Dakota School of Mines, on Tuesday night from the King Center and managed to comeback from two sets down and dominate in the fifth set to take the victory, 3-2.
After losing the first set by four, 25-21, and the second set by three, 25-22, the Jackets ripped off three straight set victories to win the match. In the third set BHSU won by six, 25-19, and the fourth by two, 25-23, before finishing off the Hardrockers in the fifth and final set by the largest margin of victory on the night, 15-7.
Junior Meghan Sipe stepped up big-time both offensively and defensively. She finished on the offensive end with a season-high 17 kills on just 36 attacks and four errors to give her a team and match-high hitting average of .361. Defensively, Sipe had 16 digs to give her a double-double on the night and threw in a match-high four total blocks (3 solo) for good measure.
BHSU senior, Amy O'Neill, exploded on the night for 22 total kills on 58 attacks with nine errors to give her a .224 hitting average. It was O'Neill's highest kill total since notching 24 back on Sept. 14, 2013 versus Illinois-Springfield. Senior, Caitlin Templeton, provided further offensive support after adding 13 kills on 39 attacks with five errors.
Freshman, Brynn Eckhardt, turned in one of her best performances as a Yellow Jacket after finishing with 57 assists that tied her second-highest on the season, with her top assists match coming versus Illinois-Springfield back in September after finishing with 66 in that match.
The Yellow Jackets had no shortage of defense on the night after junior libero, Kelsey Olson, led the way with 30 digs as up-and-coming redshirt freshman, Lacy Stevens, provided yet another season high total after grabbing 22 digs. While Sipe led the way in this match in blocks, junior Holly Hamlin, once again continued her conference-best blocking performance with 3.5 on the evening.
Four different Hardrockers had double-digit kill totals with the highest coming by way of Samantha Johnson who turned in 16 on 39 attacks with 10 errors. Justine Blade finished with 14 kills as Kirsten Johnson added 13. Mines' libero, Mikkella Reese had 30 digs as setter, Carsyn Garcia, tallied 54 assists.
The next two matches for BHSU to close out the 2013 season come this weekend when they visit Metro State on Friday night at 7 p.m. MT from Denver, followed by Regis University on Saturday night at 5 p.m. MT.
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