CHADRON, Neb. – The Blacks Hills State University volleyball team defeats Chadron State College in a four-set thriller, 3-1.

Chadron took the first set while Black Hills State took the next three. The sets went as follows: 25-17, 29-27, 25-17 and 25-23.

Trailing 1-0 after the first set, Black Hills State opened the second set with four straight points. One point came from a service ace by Laurel Lech while the other three points came off of errors by the Eagles. Chadron, however, responded with six-straight points to take the lead 6-4.

Tied at 10-all, the Yellow Jackets took the lead back with a kill by Danielle Torpey to give them the go-ahead point, 11-10. At 20-all, the two teams traded off points with neither one going down without a fight until BHSU closed it out at 29-27. Torpey tied it up at 27-all with a kill followed by the set ending points with a kill by Brynn Eckhardt and an attack error by the Eagles. The match was tied 1-1.

In the third set, the Yellow Jackets momentum continued with six-straight points to start off the set at 6-0. Lacy Stevens served for the first six points with Ellise Lech getting two kills and four attack errors by the Eagles with Cheyenne Palu, Cassidy Steele and Lech all getting blocks. The Eagles were unable to stop the force of BHSU as the Green and Gold closed out the set at 25-17 and took a 2-1 lead on the match.

In the fourth set, the two teams traded off points until 17-all when a service error by Dominika Senkerikova of the Eagles gave the ball back to the Yellow Jackets and the go-ahead point at 18-17. Black Hills State got a three-point lead until Chadron took a timeout. After the timeout, the Eagles rallied back to tie the set at 21-all. From there, the Yellow Jackets claimed the lead and kept it to win the set at 25-23 and the match at 3-1.

Brynn Eckhardt registered her eighth triple-double commanding the offense with 23 assists and 10 kills. Torpey led the team with 11 kills and a .333 hitting percentage while Palu had 10 kills, tied with Eckhardt, and two service aces. Laurel Lech assisted Eckhardt registering 20 assists of her own.

Stevens took charge of the defense acquiring 21 digs while Eckhardt had 15. Alongside Stevens, Fehrin Ward recorded seven blocks with Palu right behind with six.

Black Hills State improves to 7-17 overall and 5-11 in conference action while Chadron State slips to 7-18 on the season and 6-10 in conference play.

The Yellow Jackets close out their season next week with two matches remaining starting in Rapid City on Tuesday, November 8 at South Dakota Mines followed by the return to the Young Center against UCCS on Friday, November 11. First serve for both days is set for 7 p.m.