ST. GEORGE, Utah – Black Hills State University dropped a pair of matches in the season-opening Crystal Inn Invitational hosted by Dixie State on Friday.

The Yellow Jackets lost in three sets to the host Trailblazers: 25-17, 25-16 and 25-22. In the second match of the day, the Yellow Jackets took Cal State Monterey Bay to five sets but were unable to pull out the victory.

Game 1: Dixie State 3 BHSU 0

Dixie State came out on the attack early and the Yellow Jackets were just unable to gain momentum. The third set, the Yellow Jackets kept it close including holding a 15-14 lead. The two squads traded points until a 19-all score. From there, Dixie State reeled off four-straight points to open a 23-19 lead, leading to the 25-22.

Both Danielle Torpey and Ellise Lech recorded seven kills for the Yellow Jackets in the match.  Brynn Eckhardt led the team in assists with 17. 

Game 2: Cal State Monterey Bay 3 BHSU 2

Statistics for the match are currently unavailable due to technical difficulties. For full stats, keep checking back to BHSUAthletics.com. 

The Yellow Jackets won the first two sets 25-22 and 25-20 before dropping the next three 25-23, 25-17 and 15-11.

"Sets one and two we played aggressive and earned our points," head coach Kristin Carmichael said. "We had a few too many errors in set three and after losing that by two, we struggled to recover mentally.

"We are still searching for our go-to hitter and figuring out who we can count on late in sets and matches." 

The Yellow Jackets close out the Crystal Inn Invitational at 9:30 a.m. Saturday against Northwest Nazarene. ?