October 31, 2014

PHOTO GALLERY - Junior Varsity - Varsity  - Photos credits by Cody Welu

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS - Coming Soon!

MADISON, S.D. – Dakota State (S.D.) swept Mayville State (N.D.) in three straight sets (25-21, 25-20 and 25-23) Friday evening in a key North Star Athletic Association (NSAA) volleyball conference match at DSU Fieldhouse, battling for NSAA postseason positioning.  The Trojans secured the tiebreaker over the Comets, and locked in No. 2 seed after Presentation (S.D.) defeated Valley City State (N.D.) in five sets in Aberdeen.

Dakota State notched their 20th victory of the season (20-14 overall record), the most victories for the first time since 2004.  The Trojans also will be guaranteed a winning season for the first time since 2005 (16-14 overall record).  DSU snapped Mayville State's six-match winning streak, dipping their overall record to 18-12.

DSU is in a sole possession for second place in the NSAA standings with a 6-3 record.  MSU is third with 5-4 record and will be No. 3 seed for the NSAA postseason after owning a tiebreaker with VCSU.

Both Trojans and Comets displayed offensive explosion in the opening set, totaling 38 kills combined by both teams.  Trailing 9-8, Dakota State went on to score five straight points to gain a 13-8 lead.  The Trojans never looked back as they earned a pair from Tessa Weeldreyer and Kaylee Vander Wal to close a 25-21 victory.

DSU outhit MSU 20-18 in the first set.  The Trojans hit an impressive .474, just by committing two errors in 38 attempts.  MSU hit .342 with five errors in 38 attempts.

The Trojans raced to a 13-4 lead in the second set.  DSU took advantage of MSU's 12 attack errors in the set, earning a 25-20 victory for a 2-0 match lead.  Both teams struggled with hitting as the Trojans hit .045 (9 kills with 7 errors in 44 attempts) compared to the Comets' .000 (12 kills with 12 errors in 48 attempts).

Dakota State used another fast start in the third set by scoring four straight points, extending their lead to 9-3.  Mayville State rallied back to tie the third set at 21-21 with an 18-12 scoring run.  DSU closed out the match by outscored the Comets 4-2, thanks to Taylor Stratton's kill to seal the match.

DSU smashed 16 kills with a killing efficiency of .135 (9 errors in 52 attempts) compared to MSU 13 kills and a killing percentage of .100 (8 errors in 50 attempts).

Carly Rozell tallied 13 kills for the Trojans.  Caitlin Pick added 12 kills.  Weeldreyer had eight kills.  Kylie Martin earned six kills.

Stacey Westby produced 20 set assists for DSU.  Vander Wall added 19 assists.

Katherine Gonzalez collected 21 digs for Dakota State.  Allison Thielsen added nine digs.  Chelsey Davis had eight digs.

Weeldreyer led the Trojans with six block assists (3 total blocks).  Pick added four block assists (2.0 total blocks). 

Rozell recorded two service aces for DSU.  Westby and Thielsen each had an ace.

Josette Glatt and Kaitlyn Timian each had 11 kills for the Comets.  Remington Werner added seven kills.

Katie Wangberg had a double-double of 34 set assists and 16 digs for MSU. 

Gretchen Freed collected 12 digs for Mayville State.  Paige O'Connor added 11 digs.

Kyla Bugner recorded 3 total blocks for MSU (4 block assist and 1 solo block).  Glatt added three block assists (1.5 total blocks).

Dakota State hit .201 in the match with 45 kills and committed 18 errors in 134 attempts.  Mayville State had 43 kills and hit .132 (25 errors in 136 attempts).

The Trojans had four service aces, while the Comets did not record an ace.

DSU had 10 team blocks (20 block assists) compared to MSU 7 team blocks (1 solo block and 12 block assists).

The Trojans won the junior varsity match in four sets by the scores of 25-21, 17-25, 25-23 and 25-23.  DSU finished their season with an overall record of 6-7 and 3-1 record in the NSAA conference action.

Dakota State closes out their 2014 regular-season with another NSAA conference match versus Valley City State.  First serve is set for 3 p.m. at DSU Fieldhouse.  The Trojan Volleyball team will recognize their three seniors prior to the match.

Mayville State finishes off their regular-season with the NSAA conference match at Presentation. 

Nick Huntimer, Dakota State University Sports Information Director