SPEARFISH, S.D. – The Black Hills State University volleyball team fell in its final match of the season in a five-set thriller, 3-2, against Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Opponent University of Colorado Colorado Springs.
The Yellow Jackets took sets one and two while the Mountain Lions rallied back to take sets three, four and five. The sets went as follows: 25-23, 25-19, 25-14, 25-14, and 16-14.
In the first set, the two teams traded off points in the beginning until 4-all when the Mountain Lions were able to go three points ahead with two kills and a service ace. UCCS kept the lead until the BHSU tied it up at 19-all after trailing by six points. From there, the two teams traded off points until 23-all when the Green and Gold closed the set out at 25-23 with a kill by
Cheyenne Palu and an attack error by UCCS to lead the match 1-0.
The Yellow Jackets momentum continued into set two as they took a quick 7-1 lead as
Tara Hall served for six of those points. Three of the points came from attack errors by the Mountain Lions while
Brynn Eckhardt and
Danielle Torpey each had kills. The Yellow Jackets were able to increase the lead to the point where the Mountain Lions trailed by nine. BHSU closed the set out at 25-19 to take a 2-0 lead on the match.
In the third set, UCCS came out strong taking a quick 4-1 lead with three kills and an attack error by
Cheyenne Palu. The Mountain Lions kept their momentum and increased the lead to 12-6. The Yellow Jackets were able to come within four points at 14-10 but it was not enough as UCCS was able to take the match 25-14 to gain one on the match at 2-1.
UCCS forced a fifth set after trailing 2-0. The two teams traded off points in the fifth and final set until the Yellow Jackets took the go-ahead point at 8-7 before the team switched sides. The point was awarded to BHSU from a service error by UCCS. Towards the end of the set, the Green and Gold trailed by four at 10-14 but were able to rally back to tie the set at 14-all.
Cheyenne Palu served for the three points to tie it up with a kill by Torpey and two attack errors made by the Mountain Lions. It was not enough to end the set though, as UCCS took the last two points from an error by
Laurel Lech and a service ace from Morgan Evans as they closed the set at 16-14 and ended the match 3-2.
Brynn Eckhardt registered her ninth triple-double on the season with 29 assists, 12 kills and 10 digs. Alongside Eckhardt, Torpey registered 14 kills while Palu had 12.
Laurel Lech recorded 14 assists as well to help out on the offense.
Lacy Stevens commanded the defense with 29 digs and clinched a school record with 1,771 total digs in her career. Palu and Eckhardt assisted on defense as well as they each had six blocks while
Fehrin Ward had five. The team had 11 total blocks on the night.
The Yellow Jackets end their season at 8-18 overall and 6-12 in RMAC action while the Mountain Lions improve to 16-9 on the season and 11-6 in conference play.
Yellow Jacket fans can follow the team through the offseason on BHSUAthletics.com, Twitter and Facebook.
