SPEARFISH, S.D.— The Black Hills State University volleyball team are in the habit of splitting doubleheaders thus far in the 2015 season. The Yellow Jackets came out of the gates finishing days 1-1 on three different occasions en route to a 3-3 record. 

BHSU envisioned dodging that monkey off their back by winning back-to-back contests on Saturday afternoon against NSIC foes Northern State University and Minnesota State University-Moorhead.

Shedding that monkey wasn't going to be an easy task for the Yellow Jackets as Northern State entered the contest with a 6-0 record. All six of those wins were 3-0 scores. The Wolves continued that trend with a 3-0 victory over BHSU this afternoon. 

Minnesota-Moorhead came into the contest with a 6-1 record. The Dragon's only blemish came earlier today when they fell to Northwest Missouri State University 3-2. The Dragons rebounded with a 3-0 victory over the Yellow Jackets.

The losses drop BHSU's record to 3-5, 0-0 RMAC.

Northern State 3, Yellow Jackets 0 

BHSU began things on the wrong foot and errors were the main attribute. Four Yellow Jacket errors throughout the beginning stages of set one lifted the Wolves to a 12-2 lead.

Northern State capitalized on their lead by not allowing the Yellow Jackets back into the set. Mandy Kurosky took over with four kills to help the Wolves widen their lead to 20-5 before BHSU put together a string of points.  

A kill each from Fehrin Ward and Lacy Stevens narrowed the margin to 24-8, but that wasn't enough as Northern State secured a 25-8 set-one win. 

Three Danielle Torpey kills in the opening stages of set two propelled BHSU within one point of the Wolves at 13-12. This was enough fuel for Northern State to pull away and take the set 25-14.

Mandy Kurosky continued her stellar play for the Wolves in set three as her four kills lifted Northern State to a 25-10 set-three win. Kurosky and Cari McGarvie each registered 12 kills to pace the Wolves in the match.

Torpey's six kills led BHSU offensively in the match.

Minnesota State University-Moorhead 3, Yellow Jackets 0

The Yellow Jackets jumped to a 5-3 lead in set one paced by a kill each from Kenzie Kazmer, Eckhardt and Torpey. The Dragons responded with six unanswered points en route to a 9-5 lead and didn't look back. 

Kaitlin VanWinkle closed the set with five kills to lift MSU-Moorhead to a 25-13 set-one win.  

Set two saw the Dragons lead from start to finish. Leading 20-15, the Dragons closed the set with five unanswered points to give them a 25-15 win.

BHSU took a 3-1 lead in set three, but couldn't muster anything else. Errors continued to haunt the Yellow Jackets as they committed seven the rest of the way to fall 25-12.

Torpey's seven kills paced BHSU in the match.

The Yellow Jackets will begin RMAC play on Friday, September 18 at Colorado Christian University.  Game time is set for 6:00 p.m.