COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Black Hills State University volleyball team used a big third set rally to take down the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, 3-1, on Saturday evening. The Mountain Lions (6-9, 4-3 RMAC) took the first set, 25-21, before the Yellow Jackets (6-8, 4-2 RMAC) won set two (25-23, 27-25, and 27-25).

"We had great emotional control tonight, making a huge comeback in the third set. We were dedicated to our game strategy throughout the entire match," said head coach Kristin Carmichael. "This was another huge road win in a very evenly matched conference."

The Green and Gold took a 5-4 lead on a kill by Mariah Robinson, and held a small lead until 20-17. At that point, the Mountain Lions took advantage of BHSU errors, and used an 8-1 run to take the first set.

In the second set, once again the Yellow Jackets took a 5-4 lead, this time on a kill by Laurel Lech. They began to build a lead, this time, holding off the home team, and taking the set, 25-23.

The Mountain Lions jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the third set. At 10-3, the Green and Gold began to claw back into the match. A kill by Peyton Bodemann tied up the set at 17-17, and the two teams would then trade off sideouts until a 25-25 tie. The Yellow Jackets forced two UCCS errors, and earned the come from behind extra point victory, 27-25, and took a 2-1 lead in the match.

The fourth set played out similarly, with the home team getting out to an 8-3 lead. However, the Yellow Jackets once again showed their mettle, fighting back to tie up the set, 9-9. A kill by Katie Welniak gave the visitors a lead, and although they could never quite put UCCS away, they eventually held a 24-22 lead. A pair of kills by the Mountain Lions tied up the set, and then each team had a kill to make it 25-25. First Madee Hoopman put a kill down, and then Lech finished off the set and match with her 10th kill of the night.

Laurel Lech had her 10th double-double of the season, recording 22 assists and 10 kills. She hit .474 in the match, also adding three block assists. Hoopman (14) and Sierra Ward (13) also got to double-digit kills, while Haedyn Rhoades had 16 digs. Tess Thomas had 24 assists and seven digs.

Next Up

The Yellow Jackets will now return home to host South Dakota School of Mines in a midweek rivalry game. The match on Tuesday, October 8, will begin at 7 p.m.

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Black Hills State is located in the Northern Black Hills of South Dakota, sponsoring 13 NCAA sports with membership in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, the NCAA emerging sport of women's triathlon and NIRA rodeo. For all information regarding Yellow Jacket Athletics, please visit BHSUAthletics.com or follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram @BHSUAthletics.

---BHSUAthletics.com---