Kansas City, Mo.- Black Hills State volleyball lose their first contest against Rockhurst 3-0, then flip the script and take the win in their second game against Missouri Western 3-1.
 
Game One (L, 3-0)
 
Set One (L, 25-20): The Yellow Jackets would take an early 4-1 deficit, but after settling into the game and exchanging some back-and-forth scores with Rockhurst, a pair of serving aces from Haedyn Rhoades would tie the game up at 8-8. The Yellow Jackets would continue to keep up with the Hawks, and by the time Rockhurst called their first timeout, the score was set to 19-17 in favor of the Hawks. Coming out of the timeout, Rockhurst would tack on two more leading to a Black Hills State timeout. The Yellow Jackets would come back in and score off two Casey Widdoss kills and a kill from Karly Marx, but two errors and a Rockhurst kill would put the game away and give set one to the Griffons.
 
Set Two (L, 26-24): Set two would open with an early jump-out lead of 3-1 for the Yellow Jackets off a Madison Hoopman kill and two attack errors on the Hawks. The game would go back and forth with the Yellow Jackets gaining an 8-4 lead with the help of a Kindra Cerrone and Aiyana Byrd block, a kill by Abigail Renner, and a couple of attack errors from Rockhurst. The two teams would trade points with Rockhurst slowly catching back up to the Yellow Jackets until two attack errors on Black Hills State would tie the game at 11-11. Three more lead-trades with the Hawks would occur as the set winded toward a close, with Rockhurst taking a lead at 20-19. The Yellow Jackets would continue to fight to get their lead back, but Rockhurst would hold on to take set two 25-22.
 
Set Three (L, 25-19): The final set would start in similar fashion as set number two: the Yellow Jackets jump to a 2-0 lead off kills from Cerrone and Renner, with Rockhurst responding with two kills of their own before the two teams would exchange blows. At Black Hills State's first timeout of the contest, Rockhurst led the game 7-5 and scored three straight points out of the break. The Hawks would command the lead and end up ahead at 22-15 before a Hawk service error and a Rhoades ace would see the Yellow Jackets start to gain momentum. The Yellow Jackets would come back to tie the game at 24-24, but the Hawks would score two straight in the extra serves and conclude the set, giving Rockhurst the 3-1 final score and game one victory.

 
Game Two (W, 3-1)
 
Set One (W, 25-23): The Yellow Jackets throttled down and took an early 4-1 before the Griffons would catch up to make it a game. Missouri Western caught up and went neck and neck with Black Hills State, taking the lead at 9-8 into a Yellow Jacket timeout. The set saw three lead changes until Missouri went ahead 16-14. Both squads would score back-and-forth as the Griffons later thinned the Yellow Jacket lead to 24-23, but the Yellow Jackets would hang on and secure a set one victory at 25-23.
 
Set Two (L, 25-16): Missouri Western would come out of the gate hot in set two, holding the Yellow Jackets to a 9-2 lead as the Yellow Jackets continually faced blocked shots and some ball handling errors. Black Hills State would begin to start pulling back and brought it to within six points, but it wouldn't be enough as the Griffons would take set number two at 25-16.
 
Set Three (W, 25-13): Set number three for the Yellow Jackets started off on better footing, taking an early 2-1 lead. Missouri Western would begin pulling away from the Yellow Jackets to go ahead 6-3 before the Yellow Jackets would begin to pull it together offensively and bring the game back to an 8-8 tie. The Yellow Jackets would continue to dominate the Griffons from this point on and would take set three at 25-13.
 
Set Four (W, 25-14): The Yellow Jackets would dominate in set four, obtaining a 9-5 lead. Missouri Western continued to fight but could not gain enough momentum to catch up to the Yellow Jackets. Black Hills State would keep pinning the throttle, scoring on offensive plays and taking advantage of Missouri Western errors to secure the 3-1 victory in the fourth set.
 
Up Next
The Yellow Jackets return on Saturday at 9 a.m. as they face Minnesota State-Mankato, followed by a 3 p.m. game against Hillsdale College.