BELLEVUE, NEB., - Valley City State played eighth ranked Bellevue close for three sets in Bellevue Thursday night, but in the end the Bruins prevailed 3-0. Bellevue won 25-21, 25-19, 25-18.

The Vikings are now 6-10 overall and 4-7 in the Frontier Conference. Bellevue is 12-3 overall and 8-2 in the conference.

The opening set had five ties and three lead changes through the first twelve points. The Vikings held the lead early on thanks to a three-point run. An unforced error by Bellevue, a service ace by JayCee Richter and a kill by Morgan Freije would give the Vikings a 5-3 lead. Bellevue would go on its own three-point run to take the lead at 6-5. Another Freije kill tied the score at 6-6. A kill by the Bruins Bentlee Kollbaum would give Bellevue the lead back at 7-6, and they would not give up the lead the rest of the set. Valley City State would get to within one on a couple of occasions. A kill by Danielle Hagler made it 8-7 and a kill by Emma Lucas made it 9-8, but that would be as close as the Vikings would get the rest of the set. After an unforced error by Bellevue made the score 13-11, the Bruins went on a 5-1 run to take their biggest lead of the set at six points, 18-12. Valley City State would have another 3-0 run to get to within 21-19, but Bellevue's lead stayed between three and five points the rests of the set.

The Vikings got off to another good start in set two. After Bellevue took the early 2-0 lead, VCSU went on an 8-1 run to take a five-point lead. An ace from Delani Clarke gave Valley City State the lead at 3-2. The two teams exchanged points then the Vikings scored four straight points to take their biggest lead of the set. Three unforced errors and a Macy Fridgen kill made the score 8-3 VCSU. But Bellevue would battle back and tie the set at 13-13. The Vikings got another Fridgen kill to make it 14-13 VCSU. The Bruins would take the lead briefly at 15-14, only to have the Vikings tie it 15-15 on a Fridgen kill. Bellevue would end the set on a 10-4 run to win it 25-19.

The third set, like the other two, was back and forth. Two kills by Fridgen, a block by Freije and Emma Lucas, and an attack error on the Bruins, gave Valley City a 4-2 lead early on. The two teams would go back and forth with Bellevue tying the score, then the Vikings going back up by one. The Bruins first lead came at 8-7 after an ace by Mila Aiwohi. A second ace by Aiwohi made it 9-7. The Vikings came back to tie the set. An ace by Gracie Schumacher tied it at 10-10. But the Bruins would take the lead back on a service error by Schumacher. Valley City State would get to within one at 14-13 but the lead stayed between two and five points for several volleys. The Bruins biggest lead of the set and the match came on set, match point when an attack error by the Vikings made it the final 25-18.

Danielle Hagler led the Viking offense with nine kills, Morgan Freije had eight, Macy Fridgen had seven, and Rosie Anderson had five. Gracie Schumacher had a double-double with 14 assists and ten digs. Madden Bogenreif had twelve assists and eight digs. JayCee Richter led the defense with 14 digs, Annika Pulju had nine digs, and Delani Clarke added six.  

UP NEXT: The Vikings head back to Montana next week for matches at Montana Tech on Friday, October 10^th and Montana Western on October 11^th.