September 12, 2018

PHOTO GALLERY - Photo credits by Cody Welu and Nicholas Hauser

MADISON, S.D. – No. 24-ranked Bellevue (Neb.) hit .204 and held Dakota State (S.D.) to .083 hitting percentage Wednesday evening at DSU Fieldhouse, rolling to a 3-0 North Star Athletic Association conference opener victory.  The Bruins won by the scores of 27-25, 25-16 and 25-17.

It was the home opener for the Trojans after being away from the DSU Fieldhouse for the first seven matches of the season.  Dakota State fell to 4-4 overall record.  Bellevue raised their overall record to 10-4.

FIRST SET

Bellevue opened up the first set with a 7-3 lead.  The Trojans answered with a monstrous 9-2 scoring outburst to grab a 13-9 lead.  Holding a 13-11 lead, DSU went on another outburst by scoring nine consecutive points – thanks to three attack errors by the Bruins – for the biggest lead at 20-11. 

Bellevue answered back by using a 6-0 run to cut Dakota State's lead to 20-17.  With DSU's leading at 24-22, BU saved two set points and went on to close the first set with a 5-1 run for a 27-25 victory and 1-0 match lead.

The Bruins outhit the Trojans 16-12 in the opening set. 

SECOND SET

Bellevue roared to a 16-5 lead in the second set and never looked back.  Dakota State could get no closer than six points at 20-14, 21-15 and 22-16.  BU won the second set by the score of 25-16 and extended their match lead to 2-0.

The Bruins smashed 15 kills in the second set and hit .290 (6 errors in 31 swings).  The Trojans were held to .000 hitting percentage (7 kills with 7 errors in 32 attempts).

THIRD SET

BU used another fast start in the third set, opening up with a 9-3 lead.  DSU used a 6-2 run to cut the Bruins' lead to 11-9, but was unable to get any closer.  At 14-12, Bellevue closed the match with an 11-5 run (including a 6-1 run) to secure the match.

Both teams struggled in the third set.  BU recorded a hitting efficiency of .133 (10 kills with 6 errors in 30 attempts) while DSU registered .103 hitting percentage (9 kills with 6 errors in 29 attempts).

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

Kaylee Spreier and Barbara Briceno each led Dakota State's offense with seven kills.  Samantha Zell added six kills.  Nicole Sarringar contributed 22 set assists and two block assists.

Alwaise Villa collected nine digs for the Trojans.  Briceno added eight digs.  Zell registered four block assists. 

Bellevue had a pair of hitters that recorded double-digit, led by Shayla Scanlan with 14 kills.  She hit .522 in the match (committed just 2 errors in 23 attempts).  Andrea Carson added 11 kills and hit .409 (2 errors in 22 swings). 

Olivia Galas produced a match-high 33 assists for BU.  She also had eight digs.

Madi Evans led the Bruins' defense with 13 digs and two service aces.  Sierra Athen added 10 digs.  Coree Lipovsky and Scanlan each had two block assists.

TEAM COMPARISONS

Bellevue smashed 41 kills and recorded 41 digs in the match.  Dakota State had 28 kills and 30 digs.

The Bruins committed 21 attack errors in 98 attempts compared to the Trojans' 20 attack errors in 96 attemtps.

BU was 96.1 percent from the serving line with four service aces and three errors in 76 attempts.  DSU struggled from the serving line, converting 88.1 percent of their 59 serves.  The Trojans registered three service aces and seven serve errors.

Dakota State had five team blocks (10 block assists) compared to Bellevue four team blocks (8 block assists).

Both teams will meet for the second North Star conference meeting on Oct. 9 in Bellevue.

UP NEXT

Dakota State steps away from the North Star conference play this weekend.  The Trojans head to Kehl Center in Dubuque, Iowa for the Clarke (Iowa) Tournament.  DSU kicks off the tournament Friday evening versus Peru State (Neb.) at 7 p.m. and close the tournament with two matches on Saturday (versus Graceland, Iowa at 2 p.m. and host-team Clarke at 4 p.m.).

Bellevue is off until next weekend as they continue their North Star conference action.  The Bruins make their trip to North Dakota, visiting Dickinson State (N.D.) next Friday (Sept. 21) and Valley City State (N.D.) next Saturday (Sept. 22). 

Nick Huntimer, Dakota State University Sports Information Director