DICKINSON, N.D. – Valley City State's volleyball team couldn't find its way into the win column Tuesday night as the Vikings fell in a five-set match to Dickinson State, 13-25, 33-31, 23-25, 25-18 and 15-11.

Morgan Nelson pounded a new career-best 16 kills and tallied seven blocks (5 solo, 2 assisted) to lead the Vikings Tuesday.

Dickinson State picks up its second conference win this season as they improve to 4-17 overall and 2-6 in the NSAA. VCSU falls to 8-12 on the season and 3-5 in the conference.

The Vikings opened strong in Tuesday's match, pounding 18 kills and hitting .417 en route to a 25-13 victory in the opening set. The Blue Hawks answered back though, erasing a 17-13 deficit to win set two 33-31 on a pair of kills from Madi Wahl.

VCSU then narrowly took set three after Dickinson made a late surge to trail by just a point but a block by Morgan Nelson and Emma Lucas helped finish the set 25-23 for the Vikings.

Dickinson State wouldn't let up, pulling away in the fourth set with a late 6-2 run en route to a 25-18 win. Dickinson then built a 13-7 lead in the final set when VCSU found a 4-1 run of its own, but couldn't complete the comeback as a block by Madi Wahl secured the set and match in favor of the Blue Hawks.

The Vikings tallied 63 kills to the Blue Hawks' 59 kills and added eight service aces to Dickinson's six. However, Dickinson State finished with 11 solo blocks out of its 15 total blocks Tuesday. Dickinson also outhit the Vikings .187 to .144 in the match.

UP NEXT: VCSU will face No. 2 University of Jamestown in a nonconference match on Wednesday night. First serve is at 7 p.m. in Jamestown.