CHADRON, NE- Despite keeping most sets close, the Black Hills State Yellow Jackets (0-3) were unable to get their first win as they fall to Saint Martin's Saints (2-0) and UMary (1-1) on Saturday at the Eagle Classic. Despite the losses,
Emily Freeland and
Randi Wellhoefer each put up great offensive performances in the matchups and Freeland became the first players since 2023 to have 40 or more kills in the first three games of the season.
QUICK DETAILS GAME 1
Score: Black Hills State 0, Saint Martin's 3
Team Records: Black Hills State (0-2), Saint Martin's (2-0)
Attendance: 45
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Saint Martin's and BHSU would trade points to start the first half with SM taking a 3-2 early lead. The Saints would win five of the next six points to jump out to an 8-3 lead. The Yellow Jackets would then start matching SM with the Jackets going on a 3-0 run to get the lead down to 17-15. During this stretch of points, Mianna Cardenas would have four kills to keep the Yellow Jackets in it. The Saints would go on a 5-0 run after the Yellow Jackets closed the gap to put the set out of reach and a BHSU attack error would end the set at 25-18.
- Emily Freeland, who became the first Yellow Jacket to have 20 kills in an opening game since 2013 last night, would take over in the second set. A kill by Wellhoefer and a SM attack error would give BH a 2-0 lead to begin the set. The Saints would then win seven straight points to take a 7-2 lead. Every time BHSU would try to cut the lead, Saint Martin's would go on a run and keep a hold of it. With BHSU down 9-4, Emily Freeland would have a stretch of six kills in ten points to cut the lead to 13-10 and a Wellhoefer kill would make it 13-11. However, the Saints fought back and would seven of the next nine points to go up 20-13. Right when it looked like the Yellow Jackets were out of it, the grit the Jackets showed last night came out. BHSU would win 11 of the next 12 points to take a 23-21 lead, with four of those wins being kills by Freeland. Unfortunately, they couldn't close the set out as SM got a kill and an ace to tie it at 23. They would then trade points with Freeland getting her 11th kill of the set before the Saints would win three points in a row to win the set and 27-25 in the highest scoring set of the year for BHSU so far.
- BHSU got the third set started with a 1-0 lead, before giving up three unanswered to fall behind 3-1. They would then go on a 4-0 run to go back ahead 5-3. They would each go on runs and with the Saints up 10-9, SM went on a 9-1 run that looked to end the game. Now leading 19-10, BHSU would get three in a row, before giving up three in a row to make the score 22-13. The Jackets went on one final push winning eight of nine points with two blocks in a row by Freeland and Peyton McLeod and McLeod having back-to-back kills. Saint Martin's would hang on with a kill and an ace to end the game at 25-21 and win the match 3-0.
BLACK HILLS STATE STATISTICAL LEADERS
Emily Freeland: 15 kills, 2 blocks, 5 digs
Carsyn Mettler: 5 kills, ace, 12 digs
Randi Wellhoefer: 5 kills, .5 blocks, 4 digs
QUICK DETAILS GAME 2
Score: Black Hills State 1, UMary 3
Team Records: Black Hills State (0-3), UMary (1-1)
Attendance: 110
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The first set started out with an attack error by UMary and would lead to an early 5-5 tie. UMary would take six of the next nine points to go out to a 11-7 lead. After a good number of points with no runs, the Marauders would go on a 6-2 run to take a 19-12 lead. BHSU tried to get it a little closer with back-to-back kills from Wellhoefer, but UMary would win four points in a row with three kills and an ace to finish the set at 25-16
- The Yellow Jackets would hold a 5-2 lead to begin the second after kills from Wellhoefer, Davis-Golliher, and two from Emily Freeland. However, eight of the next nine points would go to the Marauders with four kills and two aces to give them a 10-6 lead. With the score at 13-9, BHSU would go on a 6-1 run to take the advantage back at 15-14. Mary would take it back with back-to-back BHSU attack errors, before BHSU would then grab the lead again on three straight points including a kill by Freeland and Davis Golliher. This set would continue to go back and forth before BHSU went on a 5-2 run to take a 23-20 lead. UMary's Judith Burke had back-to-back-to-back kills to tie it back up at 23 before Wellhoefer ended the set with two straight kills of her own to win 25-23.
- UMary started this set off with a 5-2 lead. After that start, the frame went back and forth with BHSU trying to close the lead they finally tied it at 10-10 before taking their first lead at 11-10 on a kill by Sydnie Tuioti-Mariner. They were tied again at 11 and at 13, before the Marauders went on a 12-2 run with an ace ending the set at 25-15. The Marauders had seven kills, two aces, and three BHSU attack errors in that run to give them a 2-1 lead in the match.
- With the third set tied at three, UMary went on an early 5-0 run to take a 8-3 lead before BHSU went on a 4-0 run of their own to cut the lead back to one point. They went back and forth with BHSU trying to tie it, but at 10-9, the Marauders went on a 10-0 run to take a 20-9 lead. They would trade points until the end, but Dani Highum ended the game with a kill to give UMary the set at 25-13 and the match at 3-1. This is the first time BHSU has started a season 0-3 since 2018.
BLACK HILLS STATE STATISTICAL LEADERS
Randi Wellhoefer: 12 kills
Emily Freeland: 9 kills, 2 assists, 4 digs
Jaeda Davis-Golliher: 9 kills, 1.5 blocks, 2 digs
UP NEXT
Black Hills State will finish up the Eagle Classic with a matchup versus the #25 Northern State Wolves. The Jackets will look to get their first win of the season in a massive way.
