DENVER, Colo. – The Black Hills State University volleyball team fell 3-1 Saturday evening to No. 20 MSU Denver.

The Roadrunners took sets one, three and four while the Yellow Jackets took set two. The sets went as follows: 25-18, 25-22, 25-20 and 25-20.

In set two, the Yellow Jackets scored two quick points with a kill by Cheyenne Palu and Brynn Eckhardt. The Roadrunners tied it up at 5-all and 6-all when Black Hills State went on the go-ahead with a kill by Danielle Torpey to go up 7-6. At 12-all, the two teams continued to trade off points until 19-all. Lacy Stevens served for a service ace to give the Yellow Jackets a one-point lead at 20-19. From there, they finished it out at 25-22 to tie the match at 1-1.

Trailing by one in the match, Black Hills State looked to tie it up trading off points with the Roadrunners until 7-all. The Green and Gold reached a seven-point lead at 12-7 scoring five points with three errors by MSU Denver with blocks by Torpey and Fehrin Ward for one point, a service ace by Eckhardt and a kill by Cassidy Steele.

The Roadrunners tied it up at 13-all and once again the two teams traded off points until 19-all when an attack error by Eckhardt gave MSU Denver to go-ahead point. From there, the Roadrunners closed the set out at 25-20 to win the match 3-1.

The Yellow Jackets finished with 42 kills, 39 assists, 58 digs and eight team blocks. Eckhardt commanded the offense with 21 assists while Laurel Lech was behind her with 16 assists. Torpey smashed down 11 kills with a .226 hitting percentage while Palu had nine kills with Eckhardt and Ward getting five each and Steele and Ellise Lech registered four kills of their own.

Lacy Stevens recorded 13 digs for the defense while Sydney Ederhoff was right behind with 11. Laurel Lech helped on defense with 10 digs. Palu and Ward each registered four blocks with Palu getting two solo.

Black Hills State falls to 6-16 overall and 4-10 in conference action while No. 20 MSU Denver improves to 20-3 on the season and remain undefeated at 14-0 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play.

The Green and Gold travel to Regis and Chadron State next weekend on November 4 and 5 with first serve on Friday at 7 p.m. followed by a 6 p.m. serve on Saturday.