MAYVILLE – The Valley City State volleyball team encountered a minor setback Wednesday night, falling in a 3-2 battle to Mayville State, 22-25, 23-25, 27-25, 28-26 and 15-7.
It is VCSU's first conference loss to a non-ranked opponent this season. Valley City State falls to 8-5 in conference play and 13-16 overall. Mayville State improves to 4-9 in the conference and 14-14 overall.
With one conference game remaining in the regular season, the Vikings sit in fourth place in the conference standings. Valley City State closes out the regular season on Saturday at Presentation College (13-13, 3-9 NSAA).
Valley City State still has a chance to secure the No. 3 seed for the postseason as Dakota State (19-6, 8-4 NSAA) still faces Waldorf and No. 2 Viterbo to finish the regular season. If the Vikings and Trojans tie in the conference standings, VCSU owns the tiebreaker after defeating Dakota State in both conference matches this season.
Mayville State narrowly outplayed VCSU Wednesday night, tallying 71 kills, 63 assists and 143 digs in the game. Valley City State totaled 67 kills, 62 assists and 129 digs. Valley City State tallied 11 blocks to the Comets' 10, but it wasn't enough for the Vikings to finish in the win column.
Valley City State jumped out to a 20-14 advantage in the first set on a kill by Katie Juarez but a Viking service error allowed the Comets to go on a 6-1 run to close the gap to 21-20. VCSU held on and a Bailey Nelson kill put away set one for the Vikings, 25-22.
The Vikings then erased an 18-15 deficit to take the second set after finishing on a 4-1 run to win 25-23, again securing the set on a kill from Nelson.
In the third set, the Vikings and Comets were tied at 20-all when VCSU scored the next three straight points. From there, Mayville came back with four straight points of their own. A block from Juarez and Brooke Blessum tied it at 24-24 and a Blessum kill tied it again at 25-25. Mayville State secured the 27-25 victory with a pair of kills from Samantha Passa and Lily Pyle.
The fourth set went down to the wire again as the set was still tied at 22-all. Trailing 24-22, the Vikings held off set point with a kill by Ella Roaldson. The Comets took the next two points but a Comet attack error tied the set again at 26-26. Kills by Mayville's Elora Passa and Rian Richards finished the set 28-26 in favor of the Comets.
The Vikings couldn't find a rally in the fifth set as Mayville tallied eight kills en route to a 15-7 victory to take the match.
Bailey Nelson pounded 23 kills Wednesday night, just one shy of her career best. Katie Juarez totaled 14 kills, and Brooke Blessum and Makayla Wetzel each added 10 for VCSU. Blessum contributed six blocks (3 solo, 3 assist) at the net while Wetzel (2 solo, 2 assist) and Nelson (1 solo, 3 assist) each added four.
Kallene Klever led the Viking defense with 33 digs Wednesday while Juarez added 32. Sadie Hansen posted 55 set assists and 27 digs, and Lexi Leroux finished with 14 digs Wednesday.
Mayville's Elora Passa finished with a triple-double Wednesday, totaling 32 set assists, 17 digs and 13 kills. Ashley Pyburn tallied a team-high 18 kills while Lily Pyle added 16.
Natalie Hadrava led all players with 46 digs on the night while Payton Richter and Jordyn Lucas each contributed 24 digs for Mayville.
UP NEXT: VCSU travels to Presentation for the regular season finale on Saturday at 5 p.m.
