August 23, 2016

MADISON, S.D. – Dakota State (S.D.) led 2-1 in the match Tuesday evening at DSU Fieldhouse versus Morningside (Iowa) of the Great Plains Athletic Conference.  The Mustangs came back and defeated the Trojans in a five-set marathon match, posting a 3-2 victory by the scores of 25-21, 19-25, 11-25, 27-25 and 15-12.

It was the season opener match for both teams.  Both teams will meet again for their second meeting in four days later in the Red Raider Invitational on Saturday.

Morningside opened up with a 21-12 lead in the first set before DSU mounted a comeback.  Dakota State used a 9-3 scoring run to cut MC's lead to 24-21, but the Mustangs secured the game after a kill by Jenn Buyert for a 25-21 set one victory.

Both teams had 12 kills in the opening set, while Morningside recorded a better hitting percentage (.321) compared to the Trojans (.200).

Leading 15-14 in the second set, DSU reeled off seven straight points to widen their lead to 22-14.  During the 7-0 run, Tessa Weeldreyer had two service aces while Clarissa Blick smashed three kills.

DSU's Carly Rozell closed the second set with an attack for 25-19 victory, evening the match at 1-1. 

Through the first two sets, the Trojans hit .219 (25 kills with 9 errors in 73 attempts) while the Mustangs hit .195 (26 kills with 11 errors in 77 attempts).

At 6-6 in the third set, Dakota State stormed past Morningside with a 19-5 monstrous closing run for a 25-11 victory and a 2-1 match lead.  The Trojans hit .409 with 10 kills in the third set, committing just one attack error in 22 attempts.  The Mustangs were held to minus .086 with 8 kills and 11 errors in 35 swings.

The fourth set saw a see-saw battle between the Trojans and the Mustangs.  After five ties in the early going of the fourth set, the Mustangs went on a 6-1 scoring run to break a 7-7 tie into a 13-8 lead.

Dakota State would answer back with a 9-2 surge to overtake a 17-15 lead in the fourth set.  DSU took advantage of three attack errors from MC during the scoring run, as well as Kylie Martin's two kills and a kill from Rozell.

At 22-21, Morningside scored two straight points for 24-21 lead.  The Trojans went on to save three set point chances by the Mustangs, tying the four set at 24-24 after a pair of kills by Weeldreyer. 

DSU extended the fourth set after preventing MC's fourth set point chance after a kill by Rozell for 25-25 tie.  The Mustangs closed the fourth set by scoring two straight points for 27-25 victory, forcing the fifth and deciding set. 

MC outhit DSU 20-13 in the fourth set.

Morningside used a fast start in the fifth set with a 5-2 lead.  With MC leading 12-8, the Trojans responded with a 4-1 run to cut the Mustangs' lead to 13-12 and forced MC to call a timeout. 

The Mustangs went on to score the final two points of the fifth set to secure the match victory (15-12 fifth set score).

Both teams struggled in the fifth set where they both had seven kills and committed five attack errors.  Morningside hit .133 in the set while Dakota State was held to .087 hitting efficiency.

Rozell had a double-double of 16 kills and 16 digs for the Trojans.  She hit .265 in the match.  Kirstin Johnson added 11 kills, recording a team-high .455 hitting percentage.  Blick added nine kills.  Weeldreyer smashed seven kills and recorded two service aces.  Martin collected six kills.  Samantha Zell had five kills.

Kaylee Vander Wal produced a double-double, producing 25 set assists and collecting 14 digs for DSU.  McKenna DeMoe added 15 digs. 

Chelsey Davis, who was honored prior to the match for joining the 1,000-dig club, tallied a match-high 25 digs for Dakota State.  Blick added 10 digs.

Weeldreyer and Zell each had a solo block and a block assist for the Trojans.  Johnson and Rozell each added a block assist.

Brittni Olson led the Mustangs with 15 kills and .355 hitting percentage in the match.  Morgan Whitehead and Buyert each tallied 11 kills.  Jayde Bergmann had nine kills.

Brittany Fleming had a match-high 27 assists and earned a double-double with 10 digs for Morningside.  Taylor Ferguson added 21 assists.

Nikki Obberfoell led MC's defense with 20 digs.  Katie Kuck had 12 digs.  Morgan Gourley earned 10 digs.

Kuck and Ferguson each had two service aces for the Mustangs.

Morningside had 22 block assists in the match (11 total blocks), with eight block assists coming from Olson.  Whitehead added five block assists.  Dakota State had five total blocks in the match.

MC outhit DSU 61-55, despite the Trojans hit .205 compared to the Mustangs .130.  MC committed 37 attack errors in 185 attempts, while DSU had 20 attack errors in 171 swings.

The Trojans recorded 96.3 percentage rate from the serving line (3 service aces, 4 errors in 108 attempts) compared to the Mustangs 90.7 percent (6 service aces, 9 errors in 97 attempts).

Dakota State swings back in action this weekend as they continue their non-conference schedule against members of the GPAC.  The Trojans will play four matches in the Red Raider Invitational, hosted by Northwestern (Iowa), starting with a pair of matches on Friday. 

DSU kicks off the tournament with a match-up against Briar Cliff (Iowa) at 4:30 p.m. and No. 13-ranked Dordt (Iowa) at 8:30 p.m.  The Trojans conclude the tournament versus Doane (Neb.) at 1 p.m. and MC at 5 p.m. on Saturday.  All matches will be held at the Bultman Center in Orange City, Iowa.

Nick Huntimer, Dakota State University Sports Information Director