BELLEVUE, NEB. – The Valley City State volleyball team dropped a four-set match to No. 7 Bellevue University Thursday night on the road, 25-18, 23-25, 25-18 and 25-15.
Bellevue's Kealy Kiviniemi and Savanna Berger combined for 32 kills and 10 blocks, each hitting over .560 on the night. Bellevue improves to 17-3 on the season and 3-1 in the conference while VCSU drops to 10-7 overall and 2-3 in the North Star.
The Bruins used a five-point run that including back-to-back kills from Kiviniemi to build a 16-11 lead in the opening set. With the Bruins holding a 20-14 lead, a
Sadie Hansen kill halted Bellevue's momentum, but it wasn't enough as Bellevue held on for the 25-18 win.
VCSU responded in the second set with an early 7-4 advantage with the help of a two kills apiece from
Rosie Anderson and
Macy Fridgen. The Vikings built a 19-13 lead when Bellevue took a timeout that proved to be worthwhile. Bellevue came back to tie the set at 22-22, capped by a Kiviniemi and Berger block. VCSU capitalized on a service error and put away the set 25-23 with kills from Fridgen and
Morgan Freije.
That would be all the momentum VCSU could muster as Bellevue used a 10-4 run to pull away with a 25-18 win in set three. The Bruins then posted 17 kills and committed just one attack error, securing the fourth set 25-15.
VCSU's
Morgan Nelson recorded a team-high 10 kills while Fridgen added nine and Freije posted eight.
Sadie Hansen recorded 34 set assists, 11 digs and eight kills on the night.
JayCee Richter led the Viking defense with 12 digs and
Delani Clarke chipped n 10. Nelson, Freije and
Rosie Anderson each posted three blocks on the night.
Bellevue's Kiviniemi recorded 22 kills and four blocks while Berger recorded 10 kills and six blocks. Eve Fountain totaled 17 kills and 18 digs Thursday night. Mila Aiwohi totaled 35 set assists and Victoria Runyan totaled 24. Taylan Keefer led all players with 23 digs for the Bruins.
UP NEXT: VCSU travels to Billings, Mont. for three games at the Frontier/NSAA Crossover Tournament Oct. 10-11. VCSU will face three of its future conference competitors at the tournament hosted by Rocky Mountain College.
