The Valley City State volleyball team had its season come to an end Wednesday night in Mayville during the opening match of the NSAA Tournament.

The Vikings won set one and set three to build a 2-1 lead over Mayville, but the Comets rallied for a five-set victory on their home court: 17-25, 25-21, 22-25, 25-17, 15-9.

Valley City State ends the season with a 9-20 overall record. Mayville State will move on to play at top seed University of Jamestown in the NSAA quarterfinals on Saturday.

The Vikings started hot Wednesday night as they tallied 15 kills and a .238 hitting percentage en route to a 25-17 win in set one. VCSU's hitting percentage dropped off from there, but the Vikings were able to win set three as well by a score of 25-22, building a 2-1 lead in the match.

The Comets came alive in set four, hitting .370 in the set as they won 25-17 to force the fifth and deciding set. The Vikings struggled in set five, recording just three kills in a 15-9 loss to end the match.

Mayville State narrowly outhit the Vikings in the match, .118 to .108. Both teams recorded 14 blocks. Valley City State had seven service aces and 11 serving errors. Mayville State had three aces and two serving errors.

Kanani Auwae led the Viking attack with 15 kills and a .200 hitting percentage. She also had 3.5 blocks. Seri Geisler added 10 kills, and both Barbara Ector and Chelzie-Kristina Ulu had eight kills. Ulu added 4.5 blocks and 10 digs.

Senior setter Steph Miller recorded 27 assists, six digs and three aces. Taylor Balkan added 18 assists, seven digs and an ace. Libero Jaycee George led the defense with 26 digs. Hailie Wilds had 14 digs and an ace. Rachel Hummel had five kills and two blocks. Emily Plowman served up two aces.

Kyla Bugner had 12 kills to lead Mayville's attack, and Megan Kolness had 46 assists.

Wednesday's loss was the 10th time this season that VCSU went to a fifth set. The Vikings finished the season 5-5 in five-set matches.