Black Hills State University Athletics

BISMARCK, N.D.- The Black Hills State University Yellow Jackets had a solid start to their season at the Marauders First Serve Invitational today, going 1-1 with a 3-0 win over MSU Billings (0-2), and 2-3 loss to the host team UMary (2-1). Izzy Saiki and Carsyn Mettler combined for 42 kills over the two games, and were crucial in BHSU's win over Billings.
 
QUICK DETAILS- GAME 1
Score: Black Hills State 3, MSU Billings 0
Team Records: Black Hills State (1-0), MSU Billings (0-2)
Attendance: 97
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The first set was a match of runs. The Yellow Jackets started the first half really strong taking an early 8-3 lead with three kills from Izabel Abril. MSU Billings matched and went on a 7-3 run to take the lead at 11-10 that included two aces. The Yellow Jackets found a groove immediately after with a 7-2 run that put them up 17-13. Billings won three in a row to make it a one-point set at 17-16 before some back and forth brought it to 20-19. The Yellow Jackets would win five of the next seven points thanks to two kills from Saiki and a kill by Peyton McLeod to make it 25-21 and take the set.
• The second set started with some good back and forth points to put the score at 7-5 before two aces and two kills from Mettler helped BHSU go on a 5-0 run to make it 12-5. The Yellowjackets would win back-to-back points to make it 12-7, but a 7-3 run from the Green and Gold that involved two spikes from Abril and a kill and an ace from Zoie Husman put the second set in little doubt, as MSU Billings really couldn't make it much closer and a service error by Billings gave BHSU the 25-16 win in set two.
• BHSU once again started hot early. McLeod, Husman, and Saiki all got kills to put BHSU up 5-2 early. Billings got back-to-back points and BHSU responded with a six consecutive points to make it 11-4 with two kills from Mettler, a kill by Husman, and an ace by Saiki. After some swapping of points, MSUB would go on a 3-0 run to get it closer at 14-10 but a 7-3 run by BHSU with their first block of the season by Abril and Saiki and two kills from Mianna Cardenas would give them a 21-13 lead and put them in strong position. Also in that run, freshman Emma Hager got her first career point with a solo block. Billings would win four in a row to make it interesting at 21-17, but the Yellow Jackets locked in and a kill by Emma Hager won the game for BHSU 25-18.

 
BLACK HILLS STATE STATISTICAL LEADERS

• Izzy Saiki: 9 kills, 3 aces, 1 block
• Zoie Husman: 9 kills, 8 digs, 1 ace
• Izabel Abril: 8 kills, 3 digs
• Carsyn Mettler: 8 kills, 1 block
• Elena Atkinson & Emma Kruger: 19 assists each

 
QUICK DETAILS – GAME 2
Score: Black Hills State 2, UMary 3
Team Records: Black Hills State (1-1), MSU Billings (2-1)
Attendance: 187
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• This game started pretty close with Elena Atkinson getting an ace to tie it at 5-5. UMary would immediately win five straight points to go up 10-5 before BHSU went on an 8-1 run to take a 13-11 lead. The Marauders would win three in a row to make it 14-13 and that was the last time this game was close as BHSU would go on a 12-2 run that included three kills from Mettler and two kills and a block from Abril. That would send BHSU into the second set with a 1-0 lead after taking the first 25-16.
• The second set was pretty much the exact opposite to the first. UMary never let this one get close. They started the period on a 13-5 run. BHSU would win six of nine to get it within five, but the home team would answer with a 10-6 run to end the set at 25-16 with UMary tying it up at 1-1.
• BHSU took the first two points of set three with a Mettler kill and a Marauder attack error. They would score five of the first seven points, before Mary fought back and eventually tied it at eight. After that, there were three more ties that would make it 13-13. The Green and Gold would score three of the next four to bring that total to 16-14, however that didn't last as the Marauders would rattle off 11 of the next 15 points to take set three 25-20.
• Saiki got two aces to begin set four, before Mary would score three straight points. The two teams split the next ten points before BHSU went on a 4-1 run to make it 11-9. The home team answered back winning three of four to tie it at 12. With it tied at 14, BHSU flipped the script on UMary and won 11 of 16 points to win the set 25-19. That run was fueled by two kills from Abril, a kill by Mettler and McLeod, and five UMary errors to send it to a fifth set.
• The fifth set started and both teams split the first ten points and were tied at five. BHSU only had one kill in those five points, while UMary had four. Those errors that were helping BHSU score a lot in the end of the fourth and early in the fifth subsided and the Marauders found their groove, They won 10 of the next 14 points with six kills, a block, and an ace to win 15-9 in set five and take the match.

 
BLACK HILLS STATE STATISTICAL LEADERS

• Carsyn Mettler: 14 kills, 2 blocks
• Izzy Saiki: 11 kills, 2 aces, 5 digs
• Peyton McLeod: 9 kills, .643 hitting percentage
• Emma Kruger: 23 assists, 8 digs
• Keira Thompson: 17 digs

 
UP NEXT
Black Hills State will finish their opening tournament tomorrow and will face Minnesota Crookston at 10:30 AM and Bemidji State at 1:30.
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