GUNNISON, Colo. – Black Hills State volleyball completed their long four-game road tour of the season on Saturday against Western Colorado, falling to the Mountaineers 3-2 after a tight fifth set.
 
The Yellow Jackets (5-11, 0-6 RMAC), who battled back from a 2-0 deficit to nearly sweep the Mountaineers, were led by a solid offensive performance from Abigail Renner. The junior led the team with a season-high 23 kills, a .340 hitting percentage, and two service aces, with two block assists helping Renner cash out with another season-high, 26 points.

Renner also co-led in digs with Haedyn Rhoades, who both went low for 17 digs on the night.
 
Rhoades recorded three service aces on the night to lead BHSU, with Audrey Brgoch and Hannah Lamon both securing an ace of their own to bring the BHSU total to seven. Brgoch tallied 13 kills on her card against WCU, with a pair of block assists and her ace lifting her to 15 points scored on the night.
 
Mianna Cardenas led the Yellow Jacket blocks with four block assists, helping lift the team's grand total to five blocks against the Mountaineers.
 
Set One (L, 25-20)
The Yellow Jackets jumped to a 3-1 lead to start and maintained the lead for the beginning portion of the first set. WCU closed in on a 3-1 run to trail 6-5, but the Yellow Jackets got points from a pair of Renner kills, a Mountaineer service error, and another spike from Emily Freeland to retake a three-point advantage.
 
The Mountaineers, however, recorded a 6-3 series against the Yellow Jackets to tie the set, 13-13, and tangled with BHSU for the lead until eight unanswered points led to a 22-15, WCU lead. Though the Yellow Jackets struck back with a 4-1 series to bring themselves back to a four-point, 23-19 deficit, BHSU was unable to dig out of the hole and WCU took the first by five points.
 
Set Two (L, 25-18)
Following a trade of the opening services, another large 6-1 chunk taken by the Mountaineers gave WCU the 7-2 lead to start the second frame. A Mianna Cardenas kill was quickly met with five more scores from the Mountaineers, forcing a BHSU timeout on a 12-3 scoreboard.
 
The Yellow Jackets began to fight back following the timeout, securing multiple scoring bursts off blocks and unforced WCU errors to begin bridging the divide. It was a 5-1 series highlighted by a Freeland kill, a block from Brgoch and Cardenas, and two service aces from Haedyn Rhoades that saw BHSU slim the Mountaineer lead to 19-13, forcing WCU to take a timeout to regroup.
 
Though BHSU fought through the rest of the set, the Mountaineers were able to fend off the Yellow Jackets from completing a comeback to win their second set point of the contest.
 
Set Three (W, 25-22)
Once again starting neck-and-neck, the Yellow Jackets were later lifted to a 7-5 lead following a pair of WCU attack errors and a kill from Lamon, but a 3-0 burst from the Mountaineers gave WCU the 8-7 scoreboard once again.
 
Down the line, a Brgoch kill sparked a 5-1 series that saw kills from Brgoch, Renner, and Cardenas, once again locking the set at 16-all. The back-and-forth play from both teams continued to intensify, with both teams tying three more times up to a 20-20 scoreboard.
 
Out of a BHSU timeout late in the frame, kills from Renner boosted the Yellow Jackets to a 23-21 lead and forced another timeout, this time from the Mountaineers sideline. An additional WCU attack error and a service error allowed the Yellow Jackets to hang on in the third set, taking the three-point set victory to go into a fourth frame.
 
Set Four (W, 28-26)
The scrap continued in the fourth set as WCU claimed first strike, but the set once more saw ten more tying scores and three lead changes until a 5-1 run from the Mountaineers put them out front, 15-11.
 
Another service error from WCU, a block from Cardenas and Brgoch, and a kill from Brgoch pulled BHSU within one, 14-15, with another bad Mountaineer set and Brogch service ace once more tying the set, 16-16.
 
WCU was able to avoid a BHSU takeover, however, as the Mountaineers expanded their lead on a 4-1 series, forcing a BHSU timeout with a 20-17 scoreboard looming over Paul Wright Gym. Refusing to cave under the pressure, Renner tallied a hat-trick to notch another tying score once again at 20-all.
 
BHSU gained momentum from here, stretching the run to a 7-2 series courtesy of three more slams from Freeland and a spike from Brgoch, sending the fourth set to a 24-22 match point in favor of the Yellow Jackets.
 
A 4-1 run from WCU kept the set alive for the Mountaineers, with WCU eventually taking a 26-25 lead over the Yellow Jackets. Another attack error, however, set up two blocking plays for BHSU to take a 28-26 victory, forcing a fifth set.
 
Set Five (L, 15-13)
The set tied up at 2-2 to begin, but the Mountaineers quickly took control with five straight points to take the lead. Later down 14-7, BHSU recorded a 5-0 rally to pull within two, 14-12, but WCU pulled themselves together long enough to keep BHSU from securing the reverse sweep. 
 
Up Next
The Yellow Jackets return to the Young Center on Friday, Oct. 13 to begin a long home stretch with a matchup against MSU Denver, with first serve at 6 p.m.