BELLEVUE, NEB. – The Valley City State volleyball team utilized its dominant offensive effort to take down the No. 15 team in the nation in straight sets Friday afternoon.
VCSU posted its second-best attack percentage of the season, hitting .345 with three Vikings posting double-figure kills.
Bailey Nelson paced the Vikings with 11 kills while
Danielle Hagler and
Morgan Freije each tallied 10.
The Vikings posted just eight attack errors as a team Friday, a season-low for VCSU.
"Our passers and defense were able to keep us in system, creating opportunities for our offense to take over," said head coach
Michelle Meiklejohn. "We have been focusing on limiting our errors, while still remaining aggressive and I am so proud of our execution!"
JayCee Richter recorded 15 digs and
Reagan Bogenreif chipped in 12 for VCSU's defense. Freije also had a hand in five blocks for the Vikings while
Sadie Hansen posted 39 set assists, seven digs, three kills and two service aces in the win.
VCSU defeated Bellevue with set scores of 25-15, 25-17 and 25-21. VCSU, who is receiving votes in the NAIA Top 25 Coaches' Poll, improves to 16-4 on the season and 4-1 in the NSAA. Bellevue drops to 16-5 overall and 4-2 in the North Star.
The Vikings took the first set 25-15 after pulling away with a 10-5 rally, capped by back-to-back
Bailey Nelson kills to secure the win.
The Bruins then kept up with the Vikings early on in set two. Tied at 13, a
Lexi Leroux service ace helped spark VCSU to a 12-4 run to finish the set with a 25-17 victory.
Finally, VCSU held a close 19-16 advantage in the third set when Bellevue took four of the next six points to trail by just a point at 21-20. The Vikings then took the next three straight points and put the match away on an
Emma Lucas kill.
Bellevue's Kealy Kiviniemi posted a game-high 14 kills Friday and Taylan Keefer led all players with 23 digs in the match. Mila Aiwohi recorded 25 set assists for the Bruins.
UP NEXT: VCSU faces Dakota State on Saturday in Madison, S.D. First serve is at 1 p.m.
