SPEARFISH, S.D. - South Dakota School of Mines (5-9) took down the Yellow Jackets volleyball team (5-7, 1-3 RMAC) on Saturday afternoon in five sets from the Young Center.  

With the Hardrockers' win, the series on the season is now split 1-1, after the Jackets won in their first meeting back on Sept. 6, by a score of 3-0.

On Saturday, the teams split the first two sets by the same score of 25-21, then the Jackets won the third set and second in a row, 25-23, before dropping the final two sets to Mines 25-14 and 15-9.

Mines used a steady performance by three front line hitters in Samantha Johnson (17 kills), Justine Blade (14 kills), and Hannah Redman (13 kills) who combined for 44 kills on the afternoon.  Amy O'Neill led the way for the Yellow Jackets with 16 kills as Caitlin Templeton and Meghan Sipe provided strong offensive support after tallying 25 more kills between the two.

Mines' setter, Carsyn Garcia, was instrumental all match long for her team as she notched a match-high 52 assists.  BHSU's star freshman setter and RMAC leader in assists, Brynn Eckhardt, finished with 40 assists on the day.

Kelsey Olson led the jacket defense with 28 digs as Sipe threw in 15 more and O'Neill finished with 13.  Lacy Stevens came in to provide extra defensive support and added depth to the unit after her 12 digs kept many rallies alive.

Shelby Mayer remains in the top five in the RMAC in blocks after adding three more as Holly Hamlin, Sipe, and Eckhardt all added two blocks a piece - keeping the Jackets as the leading blocking team in the conference.

The difference in the match likely came in the fourth set as the Hardrockers used a match-high .341 hitting-percentage after going 18-of-41 on attacks with just four errors - on the way to an 11-point set win and ultimately giving them the momentum heading into the fifth and final set.

The best set for the Jackets from a hitting-percentage standpoint came in the third set with a .234 average (16-of-47 on five errors).

The next match for the Black Hills State volleyball team will come Oct. 1, 2013 as they travel to take on division I opponent, the University of Wyoming Cowboys at 8 p.m. MT.

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