TOPEKA, KAN.—The Black Hills State University volleyball team woke up early Thursday morning to make the ten hour trek to Topeka, Kan. Awaiting the Yellow Jackets at the Washburn Invitational was a quartet of Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletic Association schools that include Emporia State, Missouri Southern State, Washburn University and Pittsburg State.
First on the docket for BHSU on Friday morning was Emporia State, followed by Missouri Southern State. The Yellow Jackets closed their 2014 season with a pair of heartbreaking losses and were looking to start on the right track.
BHSU is in pursuit to discover who'll fill the shoes left by 2014 seniors Holly Hamlin and Meghan Sipe. A few of those question marks came to light throughout the course of Friday's contest, but came with growing pains along the way.
The Yellow Jackets used game one against Emporia State to feel out the competitive juices. First game jitters got the best of BHSU in game one as the fell to Emporia State 3-0 (25-14, 25-23, 25-13). A two-hour break between games gave BHSU time at the drawing board, which paid off in a 3-0 (25-20, 20-17, 25-20) win.
The day one split gives BHSU a 1-1, 0-0 RMAC record.
BHSU 0, Emporia State 3
The Yellow Jackets jumped to a 2-1 set one lead off back-to-back kills from Ellise Lech and Shelby Mayer. Emporia State took to a 12-4 lead thanks to four Black Hills State errors.
Emporia State implemented a well-balanced attack en route to a 20-8 set one lead. Shayla Cotman, Julia Joseph, Josie Williams and Jamie Hauptman each registered kills to pace Emporia State during the run.
Two errors down the stretch of set one sealed BHSU's fate in a 25-13 loss.
Game two saw the Hornets take a 3-0 lead out of the gates. The Yellow Jackets cut the score to 5-3, paced by kills from Mayer and Danielle Torpey. Errors proved to haunt BHSU again, which helped the Hornets jump to their largest lead of the set at 10-5.
Even though BHSU never led in game two, they tied the Hornets twice. Kills from Fehrin Ward, Kenzie Kazmer, Mayer and Brynn Eckhardt tied the game 21-21. BHSU and Emporia State traded two points to make the score 23-23 before kills from Emma Benton and Kimberly Bell gave the Hornets a 25-23 set two win.
The game two heartbreak was evident in game three. BHSU never recovered from a 10-3 Hornet lead. On a bright note, young promise was on display courtesy of Cassidy Steele's four kills in set three. This wouldn't be enough in BHSU's 25-13 set three loss.
Mayer's nine kills in the match led the Yellow Jackets.
BHSU 3, Missouri Southern State 0
Three Missouri Southern attack errors proved beneficial in BHSU's 6-5 set one lead out of the gate. A pair of Lauren Darby kills paced the Lions en route to an 11-6 lead. Four errors, a Lech service ace and a Kazmer kill helped BHSU narrow the deficit to 14-10.
Kills from Torpey, Ward followed by back-to-back MSSU errors helped BHSU get even with the Lions at 16-16. The Yellow Jackets and Lions played back and forth volleyball until the set was tied 19-19. Two errors followed by kills from Steele and Ward gave BHSU a 25-19 set one victory.
Set two saw BHSU jump to a 7-2 lead thanks to a pair of Mayer service aces followed by a Torpey kill. However, BHSU attack errors mixed with MSSU service aces tied the set 11-11.
BHSU kept things tight until they led 18-16, but pulled away after that point. A pair of Kazmer kills paced BHSU from that point forward as they scratched their way to a 25-17 win.
Set three saw the score as close as 7-6 before BHSU ran away. Four Steele kills propelled BHSU to a 17-10 lead. After MSSU narrowed the margin to 22-19, a service error followed by Steele and Ward kills gave BHSU a 25-19 win.
Steele paced BHSU with nine kills, followed by Torpey's eight. Eckhardt came up with 26 set assists.
BHSU will return to action tomorrow, September 5th at the Washburn Invitational when they take on Washburn University at 10:30 a.m., and Pittsburg State at 2:30 p.m.
