SPEARFISH, S.D. – The Black Hills State University volleyball team upsets No. 24 Colorado Mesa taking the match 3-2 and beating a ranked opponent for the first time in school history. 

The Yellow Jackets took sets one, four and five while the Mavericks took sets two and three. The sets went as follows 25-17, 25-20, 25-18, 25-16, and 15-11.

In set one, senior Brynn Eckhardt led it off with four serves to give the Green and Gold a three-point lead, 3-1. She had one service ace with two points coming from errors by the Mavericks. CMU came within one point at 12-11 to try and take the lead. At 14-11, seniorLacy Stevens served for five points to increase the Yellow Jacket lead to 17-12.

Three-points came from kills by Ellise Lech, Sierra Stugelmeyer and Cheyenne Palu while Stevens had one ace. At 24-17, Eckhardt smashed the ball over the net to get it back for a match point. An attack error mad by the Mavericks gave Black Hills State the victory for set one at 25-17 to lead the match 1-0.

Heading into set four, the Yellow Jackets trailed 2-1 in the match. At 9-5, Sydney Ederhoff served for five points. The Mavericks made four attack errors with a block on one by Ellise Lech to take a six-point lead, 12-6. The last three points of the match Stevens served getting a kill from Lech assisted by Stevens and two attack errors by CMU with one being blocked by Ward and Eckhardt.

The Yellow Jackets closed the set out at 25-16 to tie the match at 2-2 to force a set five.

In the final set, the Green and Gold came out strong taking a 5-1 lead with Stevens and Laurel Lech leading the way. Stevens had the first three serves with an ace, an attack error by Colorado Mesa blocked by Palu and Ellise Lech and Mesa getting a point off of a kill by Camille Smith.

Lech had the next set of serves with two-points coming to the Yellow Jackets off attack errors by the Mavericks with another block by Palu and Ellise Lech on one of those. The Mavericks came close at 8-7 to take the lead but a kill by senior Danielle Torpey gave the ball back to BHSU and a two-point lead.

Eckhardt served the next four points with kills by Ward and Torpey and a service ace to increase the lead 12-8. Colorado Mesa came within two-points at 13-11 with a kill by Mackenzie Edwards. Ali Svorinic served for the Mavericks to only give the ball back to Black Hills State with a kill by Eckhardt. Stevens served up the match point to giveCassidy Steele the kill to end the set at 15-11 and take the victory 3-2.

The seniors came up big for the Yellow Jackets as Eckhardt tallied 29 assists, 14 digs and eight kills. Alongside Eckhardt, Ellise Lech registered 12 kills and a .367 hitting percentage while Torpey had eight kills.

On defense, Stevens recorded 23 digs while Palu worked alongside her and had eight blocks along with nine kills to help the Yellow Jackets to their victory.

"It was a huge team win. Every single player stayed dedicated to the game plan," said head coach Kristin Carmichael.

"Our offense stayed aggressive and consistent. I'm so proud of our seniors and happy to celebrate them with a victory over a good team."

Black Hills State improves to 6-13 on the season and 4-7 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play while the Mavericks fall to 15-4 overall and 9-2 in conference action.

The Green and Gold return for parent's night on Saturday October 22 against Western State with first serve at 5:30 p.m.