September 12, 2014

OMAHA, Neb. – Dakota State (S.D.) earned a pair of 3-1 victories Friday on the first day of the College of Saint Mary (Neb.)-Grace (Neb.) Tournament at the Jim Classen Gym.  The Trojans defeated Grace 25-12, 23-25, 25-18 and 25-10.  DSU earned their second straight victory after beating York (Neb.) 25-19, 25-13, 21-25 and 25-18.

Dakota State earned their fourth win in the last five matches to raise their overall record to 9-5. 

Dakota State (S.D.) 3, Grace (Neb.) 1 – FINAL

The Trojans played the Royals one week later (both teams met at DSU Fieldhouse on Sept. 5 where DSU came on top with a 3-0 sweep).  DSU outhit the Royals 43-35 in the match and took advantage of Grace's 35 attack errors in the four-set victory.

Dakota State won the first set 25-12 where the Royals hit minus .158 (6 kills with 12 errors in 38 attempts).  The Trojans hit .231 with 10 kills, committed 4 errors in 26 attempts.

DSU fell short in the second set, losing 25-23 to Grace.  The Royals had 13 kills (.125 killing efficiency) in the second set while the Trojans had eight kills (.129 killing percentage). 

Dakota State bounced back to win the third set 25-18 after hitting .294 (13 kills with 3 errors in 34 attempts). 

The Trojans stormed past the Royals in the fourth set 25-10.  DSU held Grace to just two hits in the fourth set (DSU outhit GC 12-2 and .280 to minus .214).

Carly Rozell smashed 12 kills for Dakota State.  Hope Juntunen added nine kills.  Tessa Weeldreyer had seve kills.  Stacey Westby produced 18 set assists.  Kaylee Vander Wal had 14 assists.

Westby and Rozell each earned three service aces for DSU.

Katherine Gonzalez led the Trojans' defense with 23 digs.  Chelsey Davis added 11 digs. 

Caitlin Pick recorded a solo block and six block assists (4 total blocks) for DSU.  Weeldreyer added a solo block and three block assists (2.5 total blocks).  Juntunen had four block assists.

Aaliyah Dunbar had 12 kills for Grace.  Meghan Ward added 12 kills.  Adriee Munoz earned 18 assists.  Ariana Zuccaro had 12 assists.

Chloe Corbett recorded 12 digs for the Royals.  Chelsea Entz had 10 digs.

DSU registered 43 kills with 16 errors in 116 attempts for a hitting percentage of .233.  Grace struggled with a .000 hitting efficiency (35 kills with 35 errors in 145 attempts).

The Trojans had 12 team blocks compared to the Royals' 6 blocks.

Dakota State and Grace will meet for the third meeting on Oct. 7 in Omaha.

Dakota State (S.D.) 3, York (Neb.) 1 – FINAL

Dakota State easily won the first and second sets by the scores of 25-19 and 25-13. 

The Trojans hit .344 in the opening set (13 kills with 2 errors in 32 attempts) while the Panthers hit .206 (11 kills with 4 errors in 34 attempts).  DSU held York to .047 hitting efficiency in the second set (10 kills with 8 errors in 43 attempts).

Dakota State only committed one attack error in the second set, earning 12 kills in 38 attempts (.289 hitting percentage) to grab a 2-0 match lead.

York won the third set 25-21 and extended the match into the fourth set.

The Trojans secured the match by winning the fourth set 25-18.

Brittney Anderson led Dakota State with 10 kills.  Rozell and Pick each had nine kills.  Westby tallied 25 assists while her teammate Vander Wal had 15 assists.

Gonzalez had 19 digs for the Trojans.  Davis added 12 digs. 

Pick recorded nine block assists (4.5 total blocks) for the Trojans.  Alicia Karst added six block assists (3 total blocks).  Weeldreyer and Kylie Martin each had four block assists (2 blocks).

Nicole Gates earned 14 kills and 4 service aces for the Panthers.  Sarah Martens added eight kills.  Melanie Baxa had a double-double of 31 assists and 15 digs.

Mertens and Dacy Bonner each had 15 digs for York.  Alyssa Didier had 14 digs.  Kailey Firm had 13 digs.

Dakota State outhit York 47-43.  The Trojans hit .237 in the match compared to the Panthers' .141.

DSU collected 13 blocks, which is the fourth straight match that the Trojans had recorded double digits in blocks.  York had two blocks.

Dakota State looks to finish the tournament undefeated as they play two more matches on Saturday afternoon.  The Trojans play Southwestern (Kan.) at 1 p.m. and AIB (Iowa) at 5 p.m.  Both matches will be held at the Jim Classen Gym in Omaha.

Nick Huntimer, Dakota State University Sports Information Director