October 4, 2014
VALLEY CITY, N.D. – Valley City State (N.D.) outhit Dakota State (S.D.) 50-38 and recorded 12 service aces in helping the Vikings earn a 3-1 North Star Athletic Association conference victory at Graichen Gymnasium Saturday evening. VCSU defeated DSU by the scores of 25-22, 23-25, 26-24 and 25-22, putting the Trojans and Vikings in a three-way tie for second-place in NSAA volleyball standings.
Dakota State fell to 14-9 overall record while Valley City State raised to 11-12 overall record. Both teams are 3-2 record in the NSAA conference, along with Mayville State (N.D.) who swept Presentation (S.D.) in three straight sets earlier Saturday.
The Vikings jumped to a 10-5 lead in the opening set and extended it to 18-11. The Trojans went on a 10-5 scoring run to cut VCSU's lead at 23-21. VCSU was able to close out the first set with a 25-23 victory and earned a 1-0 match lead.
Valley City State had 13 kills and committed 7 errors in 29 attempts for a hitting percentage of .207 in the first set. DSU smashed seven kills with one errors in 14 attempts and hit .429.
The Trojans scored the first four points of the second set and raced to a 10-4 lead over the Vikings. Trailing 23-19, the Vikings scored four straight points to tie at 23-23. DSU sealed the second set victory by scoring the final two points with a pair of kills from Carly Rozell and Tessa Weeldreyer. DSU tied the match at 1-1.
DSU hit an impressive .417 in the second set (12 kills with 2 errors in 24 attempts) compared to VCSU .286 (14 kills with 4 errors in 35 attempts).
The Vikings sprinted to a 14-5 lead in the third set. DSU rallied back with a 19-11 scoring run to grab their first lead of the third set at 24-23. VCSU scored the final three points of the third set to earn a 26-24 win, regaining their match lead at 2-1.
Both teams hit below .200 in the third set. The Vikings hit .171 (14 kills with 7 errors in 41 attempts), while the Trojans recorded a hitting percentage of .160 (8 kills with 4 errors in 25 attempts).
With DSU leading at 19-16 in the fourth set, VCSU closed the set with a 9-3 run for a 25-22 victory and secured the match 3-1.
Caitlin Pick led the Trojans with 11 kills. She hit .526 in the match. Weeldreyer added eight kills. Rozell earned six kills. Stacey Westby produced 17 set assists. Kaylee Vander Wall added 16 assists.
Katherine Gonzalez recorded 18 digs for DSU. Chelsey Davis added eight digs. Allison Thielsen had seven digs.
Westby earned two service aces for Dakota State. Thielsen and Gonzalez each added a service ace.
Pick had two solo blocks for the Trojans. Rozell and Weeldreyer each added a solo block.
Alley Theroux collected 18 kills for the Vikings. Barbara Ector and Kaitlyn Heuring each added 11 kills. Megan Good had 23 assists. Stephanie Miller recorded 18 assists.
Jen Wettstein led VCSU's defense with 12 digs.
Miller registered four service aces for Valley City State. Heuring added three service aces. Ector and Emily Plowman each had two service aces.
Dakota State hit .255 in the match (38 kills with 14 kills in 94 attempts) compared to Valley City State .212 hitting percentage (50 kills with 22 errors in 132 attempts).
The Vikings had 12 service aces in the match, while the Trojans had four service aces. DSU recorded a service percentage of .923 compared to VCSU's .821 service percentage.
Both teams had four blocks. DSU earned 56 digs compared to VCSU 38 digs.
Dakota State concludes their four-match road stretch on Tuesday evening. The Trojans travel to Omaha, Neb. to take on Grace (Neb.) in a non-conference match. There will be a junior varsity match at 5:30 p.m., followed by a varsity match at 7 p.m. Both matches will be at Jim Classen Gym.
Nick Huntimer, Dakota State University Sports Information Director
