SPEARFISH, S.D. – The Black Hills State University volleyball team (5-6, 1-3 RMAC) took on the Mountain Lions of UC-Colorado Springs (6-5, 2-1 RMAC) on Friday night which proved to be a tough challenge with a deep UCCS team that took that match in three sets 25-22, 25-18, 25-23.

The Yellow Jackets were competitive all night as they came back to shrink deficits throughout the match and at times took leads of four to five points, but UCCS hitters Kristen Sciacca, Emily Whitelaw, and Jordan Banich proved too much late in each set.

Sciacca finished with a match-high 13 kills on 32 attacks with just three hitting errors (.312 avg).  Whitelaw, meanwhile, went for 11 kills as Banich added seven more on way to the victory.

The Yellow Jackets were led again by Amy O'Neill with 10 kills as Caitlin Templeton had eight and Meghan Sipe provided a spark as well as she too turned in eight more kills.

Freshman setter, Brynn Eckhardt, again showed why she is atop the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in assists as she finished with 30 on the night.

Kelsey Olson led the Jacket defense with 23 digs while O'Neill proved how balanced of a player she is as she finished with 15 digs.  Sipe too showed her versatility as she had 14 digs.  Holly Hamlin had one of her best matches of the year as she continued her effective blocking and timely kills. Hamlin had five kills and three blocks as front line hitter, Shelby Mayer, remained in the top five in the RMAC in blocks after finishing with two.

While it was a tough loss, the Jackets did prove that they belong in the conversation as one of the RMAC's senior led, deeper teams, that will come to play night in and night out.  BHSU will have to bounce back right away as arch-rival South Dakota School of Mines (4-9) will travel to Spearfish tomorrow to take on the Jackets at 3 p.m. MT.

In the team's first meeting back on Sept. 6, 2013 at the Nebraska-Kearney Tournament in both teams first match of the season, the Yellow Jackets swept SD-Mines in three straight sets 29-27, 25-13, and 25-22.