The Valley City State University volleyball team opened its home schedule with a split Friday at Graichen Gymnasium.
Hosting the VCSU/Jamestown Invitational, the Vikings went 1-1 Friday with a five-set victory over Bemidji State and a three-set loss to No. 24-ranked University of Great Falls.
In other action Friday in Valley City, Dickinson State was swept by both Great Falls and Bemidji State.
VCSU will play host to five total matches on Saturday, including two by the Vikings. VCSU takes on Montana State University-Northern at 1 p.m., and will close the tournament with a 5 p.m. match against Waldorf College.
VCSU 3, Bemidji State 2
The Vikings picked up a big five-set win over Bemidji State – an NCAA Division II school – to start the tournament on Friday.
After Bemidji won set one in extra points, 27-25, the Vikings rallied for 25-23 and 25-22 victories in sets two and three. Bemidji forced the fifth set with a 25-14 win, but VCSU sealed the victory with a 15-11 win in set five.
Kanani Auwae led a balanced Viking attack with 11 kills. Rachel Hummel had nine kills and five block assists. Chelzie-Kristina Ulu and Seri Geisler each had eight kills, and Autumn Johnson added seven.
Steph Miller recorded 30 assists and had five service aces. Jaycee George led the defense with 18 digs.
Bemidji State outhit the Vikings .211 to .154. Bemidji had 12 blocks and the Vikings had 11.
Great Falls 3, VCSU 0
The Vikings dropped the final match of the night, running out of gas in a three-set loss to University of Great Falls.
Great Falls, ranked No. 24 in the NAIA, won 25-22, 25-23 and 25-12.
Auwae had nine kills in the loss to lead VCSU's attack. Seri Geisler and Chelzie-Kristina Ulu both had four kills.
Steph Miller recorded 13 assists and three aces. Taylor Balkan had eight assists. Jaycee George tallied 10 digs and four aces.
The Vikings were outhit .262 to .010 in the match, mostly because of a bad third set where the Vikings had just two kills and 11 errors. Great Falls out blocked VCSU, 10-3.
