SPEARFISH, S.D. – Despite trailing 2-0 in the match, the Black Hills State University volleyball team rallied back to defeat the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs on Friday night, 3-2.

The Yellow Jackets improve to 10-12 overall and 7-6 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action, while the Mountain Lions fall to 11-10 on the season and 8-5 in RMAC play.

Trailing 2-0 in the match, the Yellow Jacket found their momentum in the third set. The two teams traded off points the whole set. At 21-all, the two teams traded off the lead until 23-all. The Mountain Lions earned a point off a Yellow Jacket error. From there, Ellise Lech hit a power kill to tie the set back up at 24, and force a win by two situation. Cheyenne Palu played off the Lech kill and tallied the go-ahead point at 25-24, and caused UCCS to take a timeout.

Following the timeout, an error by the Mountain Lions gave BHSU the set point at 26-24, and the home team trailed 2-1 in the match.

In the fourth set, the Mountains gained an early lead at 7-3, after going on a 6-0 run. The Yellow Jackets cut the lead though to one, at 14-13.

Later in the set though, the Yellow Jackets trailed by six at 21-15. Kenzie Kazmer started a 5-0 run for the Green and Gold with a kill to trail, 21-16. The Mountain Lions registered two errors to give BHSU two more points to cut the lead to 21-18. Tara Hall notched a service ace, followed by a Sierra Stugelmeyer kill to trail, 21-20.

From there, the Mountain Lions increased the lead again to, 24-21, and set up a set and match point but were unable to capitalize on it, as the Yellow Jackets rallied back to score three straight points to tie the set at 24-all, forcing extra points again. The two teams each tallied points to keep it tied at 25. However, the Green and Gold finished out the set at 27-25, and tied the match, 2-2.

After forcing a fifth set, the Mountain Lions tried to end it quickly, as they had a 7-2 lead. However, UCCS was unable to maintain that lead, as BHSU rallied back in a hurry to trail, 9-8, and forced the Mountain Lions to use a timeout.

After the timeout, the Yellow Jackets tied the match at 11-all. From there, the two teams traded off points until 13-all. The final two points of the set came off errors by the Mountain Lions to give the Yellow Jackets the comeback victory at 15-13 to win the set and take the match, 3-2.

"This team never quits," said head coach Kristin Carmichael. "We did not have a great start, but we never gave up. I'm so proud of this team for believing in themselves."

E. Lech led the way on offense with 17 kills and a .227 hitting percentage. Kazmer and Stugelmeyer where right alongside with 13 and 10 kills, respectively. Laurel Lech notched a double-double with 54 assists and 17 digs.

On defense, Sydney Ederhoff tallied 30 digs, while Hall and Reilley Baty had 11 and 10, respectively. Palu recorded six blocks, while the team had eight total blocks.

Black Hills State returns home Saturday night to host Metropolitan State University Denver in a 5:30 p.m. contest.