Black Hills State volleyball (4-3, 0-0 RMAC) hosted two more matches against Montana State Billings and UMary at Saturday's Yellow Jacket Classic, securing the win against MSU Billings in the afternoon, 3-2, before dropping a tightly contested rematch against UMary, 3-2.
 
GAME ONE (W, 3-2)
The Yellow Jackets were held to a .093 and a .065 attack percentage before the offense turned around its performance in set three with a .321 clip in the third frame, which kickstarted the three-set comeback against MSUB.
 
Abigail Renner, Audrey Brgoch, and Emily Freeland held the double-digit scores for the Yellow Jackets in game one, with Renner leading the trio with 20 kills, a .340 attacking clip, and 21 points in the match along with 20 digs on defense. Brgoch led the team from the service line with three service aces to go along with her 17-piece and 20 points.
 
Freeland secured 12 kills against the opposing Yellowjackets and helped at the net with an assist block on her stat line, finishing the game with 12.5 points. Randi Wellhoefer continued to prove she was a vital asset at the net as she led with 2.5 total blocks in the game.
 
Set One (L, 25-16)
Renner let off her first kill of the game for BHSU, who was also aided by a MSUB attack error to jump in front 2-0, but the Yellowjackets set the tone for the rest of the set with a dominant 6-2 run over BHSU to lead 6-4. Another quick burst from Brgoch gave BHSU their last lead of the set at 7-6, where MSUB churned out a 13-2 run that quickly put the set out of reach for BHSU.
 
The BHSU Yellow Jackets ran up four unanswered in the final moments of set one, but MSUB's lead dug them too deep to come back and MSUB took the first set by nine.
 
Set Two (L, 25-17)
MSUB did not slow down at the intermission as they came into set two and quickly took a 10-1 lead over BHSU. Green N' Gold made a late push down the stretch, inching closer off a four-score campaign to trail by six, 20-14. Though both teams fought to the end, the monster rally from earlier on was too much for BHSU to catch up to, but BHSU woke up as the game transitioned into their do-or-die set.
 
Set Three (W, 25-11)
Indeed, it was BHSU's turn to take control of the ship as Freeland, Renner, and Brogch began to warm up offensively and hold the Yellow Jackets up 7-3 to start. MSUB kept up for a short time, drawing closer, 7-6, before another dominant run came courtesy of a 9-2 rally from BHSU to give the hosts a 16-8 lead.
 
Only being interrupted by a Lamon service error, BHSU continued to bear down on the opposing Yellowjackets, tallying six more unanswered to take a large 22-9 lead. A kill and a service ace was the last gasp from MSUB as a Freeland-Wellhoefer block and Freeland spike gave BHSU, and this match, extended life.
 
Four (W, 25-15)
BHSU opened set number four with another demanding 10-4 lead until MSUB began to fight back, closing in at a 13-9 deficit before Alyson Louderback kicked off a 6-1 series to extend BHSU's lead to 19-10.
 
MSUB did not go down without swinging as they continued to put points up in the latter half of the set, but held them down long enough to take the ten-point victory to force an extra set of volleyball.
 
Set Five (W, 15-13)
The Yellow Jackets rolled into set five with a 5-2 lead over MSUB, but this time MSUB got within striking distance, tying the set 5-5. Though numerous tying scores were recorded by the visiting Yellowjackets, including a 12-all scoreboard, BHSU never surrendered the lead and eventually followed the lead of Freeland and Brgoch kills to put out MSUB, completing the three-set comeback and moving to 3-1.
 
GAME TWO (L, 3-2)
Renner, Freeland, and Brgoch once again led BHSU in the offensive attack against the Marauders, with Renner carrying 18 kills and a service ace for 20.5 points. Freeland nailed down 15 kills of her own as well has another BHSU service ace to finish with 17.5 points.
 
Brgoch tallied 14 and held the largest attack percentage of the three with a .244 clip on the night, claiming the third of four total Yellow Jacket service aces for 15 points against UMary.
 
BHSU logged eight total blocks in their loss to the Marauders, led by two solo blocks from Randi Wellhoefer. Renner, Freeland, Alyson Louderback, and Wellhoefer each recorded three block assists on their stat sheets against UMary.
 
Hannah Lamon led BHSU with 46 of 51 aces during the match, reeling in the fourth BHSU ace and 12 digs in her performance.
 
Set One (W, 25-22)
BHSU entered game two of the day hot, quickly rallying together a 3-1 lead to kick off against the Marauders. They kept the points coming with multiple scoring runs, which allowed them to start the match with a comfortable margin between them and UMary.
 
Reminiscent of their battle at the MSUB Yellowjacket Invitational a week prior, UMary continued to fight and eventually racked up four unanswered points to slim the Yellow Jackets lead to a single point, 10-9. The good guys returned to their quick pace from the beginning and tallied another 5-1 run to begin pulling away from the Marauders once again, 15-10, but UMary pulled back with a 4-0 series that saw a pair of blocks and a pair of kills pull the score to 19-all.
 
The first set saw both squads go neck-and-neck down the wire, but Emily Freeland's final two kills paired with a Renner service ace hung the first tick on BHSU's win column for the match.
 
Set Two (L, 25-13)
BHSU put up the first points of the set-off spikes from Freeland and Renner, but a 6-2 run from the Marauders gave the visitors a 6-4 lead that UMary would hold on to throughout the remainder of the set. An 8-3 campaign extended the gap to 14-9 in favor of the Marauders as another five unanswered forcing two BHSU timeouts and left a 19-9 scoreboard.
 
One Renner kill and two Freeland throwdowns brought BHSU to an eight-point deficit but attacking errors from BHSU in the final services shut down any chance of a return, tying the match 1-1.
 
Set Three (W, 25-22)
The third set became a scrap on both ends of the court, with neither team more than a one-point gap until a pair of Brgoch kills gave BHSU a short-lived 12-10 lead. Five scores to two from UMary to BHSU gave the Marauders another lead, 13-12, but the game picked back up with traded scores.
 
Finally, after 16 tying scores and nine lead changes in total, BHSU strung together a 5-1 series to end the third on top, taking a 2-1 lead over the Marauders in the day two finale.
 
Set Four (L, 25-18)
Starting with five traded services, a large 8-2 run went in favor of the Marauders and put them up 10-5 at the first forced timeout of the set, taken by BHSU. Out of the timeout, BHSU slowly climbed back to trail 15-13, but UMary kept providing answers through the middle of the set to keep their lead intact.
 
UMary held on and pulled away with the tying set to force an extra set, marking the third game at the Yellow Jacket Classic on Saturday to finish in five.
 
Set Five (L, 15-8)
Locking up at 4-3 in favor of the Yellow Jackets to start the extra frame, UMary pulled ahead on four scores in a row to take an 8-5 lead at the halfway side change. The Marauders took charge of the set and brought the match point up by nine, 14-5. In a last-ditch effort, BHSU put three more points on the board but the momentum and match were shut down with a final kill from the Marauders.  
 
Up Next
BHSU closes out the Yellow Jacket Classic tomorrow, Saturday, Sept. 9 at 5 p.m. against Texas A&M Kingsville.