SPEARFISH, S.D. – Behind 17 kills from Meghan Sipe and four blocks from Holly Hamlin, the Black Hills State University volleyball team defeated the University of Colorado Colorado Springs 3-1 Friday night in the Young Center.

The Yellow Jackets improve to 6-10 overall and 4-3 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference with final scores of 26-24, 25-22, 25-17 and 25-18. UCCS falls to 8-8 overall and 4-3 in the loop.

The Yellow Jackets secured a set one victory after starting off quickly and opening an 8-4 lead. With the lead the same, at four points, the Mountain Lions countered a 14-10 deficit and turned it into a 17-14 lead over BHSU.

Black Hills State regrouped and utilized a kill from Kenzie Kazmer to stop the seven-point run and the two squads battled back-and-forth for the remaining set. Down 24-23, BHSU received a kill from Holly Hamlin and UCCS had an attack error to give the Yellow Jackets a 25-24 lead and set point. Sydney Ederhoff promptly served an ace to win the set.

The beginning of set two was the opposite of set one as the Green and Gold fell behind 8-4 before fighting back at knotting the match at 11-11. From that point on, neither team was able to grab a grip of the lead as there were 13 ties and lead changes throughout the rest of the set.

With the score tied at 20-20 the Yellow Jackets grabbed a lead they would not relinquish off a block from Danielle Torpey. BHSU led 22-20 and 23-21 before getting the set winner at 25-22 with a kill from Meghan Sipe.

The fourth set saw the Yellow Jackets once again jump out of the gates with a 9-5 lead. UCCS knotted the score at 12-12 and took a 14-12 lead before Sipe set the tone with three-straight kills to lift the Yellow Jackets to a lead they would not lose.

The Green and Gold continued to pull away with scores of 20-15, 22-16 and 24-18 until the set, and match, point came from a kill off the hands of Torpey.

Black Hills State returns to the Young Center on Saturday for a 5 p.m. match against Regis University.

Quick Hits

• Meghan Sipe secured a team-high 17 kills and a .333 attack percentage
• Danielle Torpey joined Sipe with double digit kills as she had 11
• The Yellow Jackets tallied nine solo blocks along with three assisted compared to four total blocks for UCCS
• Holly Hamlin led the team with four blocks
• Brynn Eckhardt, Sydney Ederhoff and Hamlin each had two service aces
• Eckhardt had a match-high 41 assists
• Kim Catlett had a match-high 19 kills for the Mountain Lions
• UCCS had a match-high 54 kills