By Ryan Hilgemann; Black Hills State Sports Information
BILLINGS, Mont. – The Black Hills State University volleyball team split on day two of the Montana State Billings Jackets' Volleyball classic in Billings, Montana.
The Yellow Jackets beat fellow Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference member Chadron State in a nonconference matchup 3-1 and fell to the host MSU-Billings 3-0.
In the victory over Chadron State (0-3), Black Hills State (2-2) won 25-20, 24-26, 25-20 and 28-26.
The Yellow Jackets took the first set 25-20, twice holding leads of five points. Leading 12-10, the Yellow Jackets took advantage of a service error, followed by a kill from Holly Hamlin and an attack error from the Eagles to open the 15-10 lead.
Chadron State fought back to make the score 18-17 before the Yellow Jackets took the sting out of the Eagles leading to the 25-20 victory.
The Eagles took the second set 26-24, a match that was much like both of Black Hills' matches yesterday, a tight affair with neither team able to gain attraction. The third set was again a 25-20 victory that showed throughout much of it was a tense situation until a 10-10 score was opened to a 17-11 Yellow Jackets lead.
The run started with an assisted block from Danielle Torpey and Holly Hamlin and was aided by a Chloe Zimmer service ace and a pair of unforced errors from CSC. After the eagles got a point back, the Yellow Jackets used kills from Hamlin, Kazmer and Meghan Sipe to continue its run and the 17-11 lead. BHSU would use the momentum to push to the 25-20 victory.
In the fourth and final set, Black Hills State had to come from behind at 20-15 for the eventual 28-26 win. BHSU clawed its way to tying the set at 23-23 on a Sipe kill and took its first lead at 24-23 on a Lacey Stevens kill. Chadron State then bounced back on a pair of kills to take the lead at 25-24.
Ana Kasljevic of Chadron State had a service error allowing Black Hills to knot the game at 25-all. A Yellow Jackets error allowed CSC to take a brief 26-25 but the Eagles too committed an error, this time on an attack, opening the door for the Yellow Jackets victory. The match point came on a kill from Sipe as Zimmer set her up with the assist for the 28-26 win.
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In the match against MSU-Billings (4-0), the home squad took the match 25-17, 25-19 and 25-21.
The opening set was close throughout with a 16-16 tie before five straight points for MSUB gave a commanding lead that they would not relinquish in the 25-17 victory.
The second set saw MSU-Billings open a 6-3 lead before the Yellow Jackets fought back to knot the game at 7-7 behind a series of kills from Fehrin Ward and single kills from Holly Hamlin and Shelby Mayer.
The score would then bounce back and forth until MSUB Jackets took a 15-15 tie and turned it into a 21-17 lead before the final score of 25-19.
In the final set, the Yellow Jackets opened with a 2-0 lead behind an error and a Hamlin block. After MSUB knotted the game at 3-3, the two squads then battled back and forth through a 12-11 home team lead.
Three-straight points opened up a lead for Montana State and continued to pull away from the Yellow Jackets enroute to the 25-21 victory.
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