SPEARFISH, S.D.—The Black Hills State University volleyball team took the court for a rare Tuesday night contest against South Dakota School of Mines at the Donald E. Young Center. Milestones highlighted BHSU's match-up with the Hardrockers.

Despite the long history between BHSU and South Dakota Mines, Tuesday night marked the first time the two schools squared off as conference foes.  The Hardrockers and Yellow Jackets found themselves at the cellar of the RMAC's Rocky Division prior to the contest.

BHSU avoided the Rocky Division cellar with a 3-0 win over South Dakota School of Mines. This marks the first time BHSU swept their rival Hardrockers since October 6, 2010, exactly five years to the day. 

BHSU improves to 5-10, 2-5 RMAC while South Dakota Mines falls to 4-12, 1-6 RMAC. 

Yellow Jackets 3, South Dakota Mines 0

Pre-game jitters proved to be the case for the Yellow Jackets as they found themselves trailing the Hardrockers 11-6 in set one. A South Dakota Mines service error followed by a Brynn Eckhardt kill, and back-to-back Shelby Mayer kills narrowed the Hardrocker lead to 11-10. 

South Dakota Mines continued to hold the lead until an attack error on their behalf knotted the set 17-17. BHSU took an 18-17 lead off a Hardrocker set error and didn't look back.

A pair of Danielle Torpey kills down the stretch sealed a 25-21 win for BHSU in set one.

The jitters began to subside for BHSU in set two. The Hardrockers took a brief 7-6 lead before a Shelby Mayer kill tied the set 7-7. South Dakota Mines followed that with an attack error that gave the Yellow Jackets the lead for good.

The Hardrockers couldn't respond from that point forward as BHSU cruised to a 25-18 win in set two.

Confidence struck the Yellow Jackets in set three when they took a commanding 11-3 lead. The Hardrockers narrowed the score as close as 12-8, but couldn't fend off the Yellow Jackets as they secured a 25-19 set-three win.

Mayer led BHSU with 13 kills, a career-high, while Eckhardt registered 23 assists.

The Yellow Jackets will return to action on Friday, October 9 at the Young Center against Chadron State College. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m.