August 21, 2015

Photo by Maddox Burnett, St. Thomas (Fla.) Sports Information Graduate Assistant

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Dakota State (S.D.) hit .315 Friday morning in sweeping a three-set victory over Florida Memorial on the first day of The Athletes Meals Volleyball Classic, hosted by St. Thomas (Fla.) at Fernandez Family Center.  The Trojans dominated the Lions by the scores of 25-14, 25-13 and 25-16.

Dakota State won the season opening match for the first time since Aug. 27, 2010 when the Trojans beat Midland (Neb.) in five sets in Des Moines, Iowa.  Florida Memorial, a member of The Sun Conference, dropped their third straight match after dropping a pair of season opener matches on Thursday.

The Trojans hit .333 in the opening set (13 kills, 4 errors and 27 attempt) to win the opening set by the score of 25-14.

DSU raced to a 7-1 lead in the second set, forcing the Lions to call timeout.  Dakota State never looked back as they hit .647 with 11 kills in 17 attempts and did not commit an attack error in 25-12 second set victory.  DSU held FMU to .000 (6 kills with 6 errors in 22 attempts) and extended their match lead to 2-0.

The Trojans used another quick start with a 9-3 lead in the third set.  DSU went on to close the match with a 25-16 third set win.

Freshman Emma Welch-Murphy smashed a match-high 14 kills for Dakota State.  She hit .444 in the match.  Carly Rozell, who was named 2015 North Star Athletic Association Freshman of the Year in 2014, added seven kills.  Tessa Weeldreyer had five kills.

DSU's Rozell and Weeldreyer each had a block solo.

Kaylee Vander Wal produced 14 set assists for the Trojans.  Rachel Johnson added eight assists.

Johnson and Hannah Bauer each recorded four service aces for DSU.  Weeldreyer had two aces.

Chelsey Davis led the Trojans' defense with 13 digs.  Bauer added nine digs. 

Arasay Guerra tallied eight kills for Florida Memorial.  Jessica Medina added five kills.

Keanna Lockridge had 12 assists for the Lions.  Medina added seven assists.

FMU's Raquel Laing collected seven digs.  Medina had six digs.

Dakota State outhit Florida Memorial 31-23 in the match.  The Trojans committed just eight attack errors in 73 attempts compared to the Lions' 14 attack errors in 79 attempts (.114 hitting percentage).

DSU had 10 service aces while FMU had 4 service aces.

Dakota State plays another opponent from The Sun Conference at 2 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time)/1 p.m. (Central Standard Time).  The Trojans face the host-team St. Thomas, who received votes in the NAIA Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Top 25 national rankings.

Nick Huntimer, Dakota State University Sports Information Director