October 17, 2014
FOREST CITY, Iowa – Another milestone had been established this week as Dakota State split a pair of volleyball matches in the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Invitational Friday, hosted by Waldorf (Iowa) College at Hanson Fieldhouse. The Trojans dropped their first match of the day to Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) in a five-set thriller (25-17, 23-25, 25-22, 23-25 and 15-10). Caitlin Pick smashed her 1,000th career kill to help Trojans defeat AIB (Iowa) 3-1 in the night cap.
Dakota State is currently 17-11 overall record, the most victories since 2004 when the Trojans completed with a 24-10 overall record.
Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) 3, Dakota State (S.D.) 2
The Trojans struggled in the opening set, hitting .065 (10 kills with 8 errors in 31 attempts) to give Cardinal Stritch a 1-0 match lead with a 25-17 victory. The Wolves hit .346 in the first set (13 kills with 4 errors in 26 attempts).
Dakota State answered back after outhitting Cardinal Stritch 21-18 in the second set. The Trojans tied the match at 1-1 after winning the second set at 25-23.
The Wolves won the third set 25-22 for a 2-1 match lead. DSU won the fourth set 25-23 and forced the match to fifth and deciding set.
Cardinal Stritch earned a 15-10 fifth set victory to gain a 3-2 thrilling victory, lifting their overall record to 15-16. The Trojans struggled in the deciding set after recording .000 hitting efficiency (4 kills with 4 errors in 24 attempts), while the Wolves hit .269 (10 kills with 3 errors in 26 attempts).
Carly Rozell tallied 15 kills for the Trojans. Pick added 13 kills. Tessa Weeldreyer recorded 11 kills. Taylor Stratton had nine kills. Kylie Martin had seven kills.
Stacey Westby produced 31 set assists for DSU. Kaylee Vander Wal added 20 assists.
Katherine Gonzalez, who surpassed 1,000 career digs earlier this week, led Dakota State's defense with 28 digs. Allison Thielsen added 12 digs and recorded two service aces.
Pick had two blocks (four block assists) in the match for the Trojans. Stratton added 1.5 blocks (3 block assists).
Tayler Hegg had a match-high 22 kills and earned a double-double with 19 digs for the Wolves. Kendyl Danelski added 16 kills. Kelsey Sue Johnson recorded a double-double of 54 assists and 11 digs.
Melissa Murphy registered 18 digs for Cardinal Stritch. Victoria Burke added 16 digs.
Gabrielle Bobinsky had five block assists (2.5 total blocks) for the Wolves.
Cardinal Stritch outhit Dakota State 67-65 in the match. The Wolves hit .253 compared to the Trojans' .182. CS had nine blocks, while DSU had six blocks.
Dakota State (S.D.) 3, AIB (Iowa) 1
The Trojans shook off their slow start and bounced back in the winning column in the night cap, defeating AIB in four sets.
DSU was held to .000 hitting efficiency (9 kills with 9 errors in 36 attempts) in the opening set as the Eagles earned a 25-21 victory for a 1-0 match lead. AIB hit .114 in the first set (11 kills with 7 errors in 35 attempts).
Dakota State tied the match at 1-1 after taking the second set 25-14. The Trojans held the Eagles to negative .053 hitting percentage (7 kills with 9 errors in 38 attempts). DSU hit .148 in the second set (9 kills with 5 errors in 27 attempts).
The Trojans roared past the Eagles 25-10 in the third set by hitting an impressive .526 (13 kills with 3 errors in 19 attempts). AIB was held to below .000 for the second straight set, hitting at minus .048 (5 kills with 6 errors in 21 attempts).
DSU closed out the match by hitting .333 (16 kills with 4 errors in 36 attempts) in the fourth set (25-16). The Eagles hit .189 with 9 kills and 2 errors in 37 attempts.
Pick set a milestone in Trojans' victory as she earned her 1,000th career kill and smashed 11 kills in the match. It was the third straight match that Pick recorded double-digits kills. Rozell added 12 kills and recorded double-digits kills for the fourth straight match. Weeldreyer had 10 kills and hit .500 in the match.
Vander Wal led Dakota State with 20 set assists. Westby added 14 assists.
Gonzalez collected 15 digs and two service aces for the Trojans. Thielsen added 10 digs.
Ava Peyton had nine kills for the Eagles. Kirstin added eight kills. Rochelle Means recorded 17 assists.
Ashley Larson tallied 18 digs and two service aces for AIB. Johnson had six block assists (3 total blocks).
Dakota State outhit AIB 47-32 in the match. The Trojans hit .220 compared to the Eagles' .061.
AIB (7-19 overall record) recorded seven team blocks, while DSU had three team blocks.
Both teams had three service aces. The Eagles committed nine service errors compared to the Trojans' seven service errors.
Dakota State concludes the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Invitational Saturday afternoon with a pair of matches. The Trojans play Mount Mercy (Iowa) at 12:30 p.m. and host-team Waldorf (Iowa) at 2:30 p.m.
Nick Huntimer, Dakota State University Sports Information Director
