HELENA, Mont. – Valley City State played the #7 Bellevue Bruins tough, but in the end the second seeded Bruins prevailed in straight sets. Bellevue won 25-17, 25-21, 25-19.

Valley City State is now 13-15 on the season. The Bellevue is 25-3 and will play Carroll College or Montana State-Northern.

In the opening set, Bellevue held the lead for most of the set. Early on, Valley City State did take a brief lead when Eden Carrier picked up a kill that gave the Vikings a 4-3 lead. The Bruins would come back to regain the lead at 5-4. It was back-and-forth for several rallies. VCSU would use a 5-2 run to tie the match at 10-10. That is when Bellevue started to pull away from the Vikings. A 9-2 run by the Bruins gave them a seven-point lead. Ali Butler had back-to-back aces to make the score 19-12 Bellevue. Valley City State would get the lead down to four with a 3-0 run capped off by a service ace by Molly Bjorneby made it 19-15. The Bruins then finished the set with a 6-2 run. A kill by Eve Fountain made the final in the set 25-17.

Three times Valley City State started the second set with 2-0 runs to take an early 6-3 lead. Kills by Danielle Hagler, Morgan Freije, and Ellie Lucas plus a block by Emma Lucas and Freije helped the Vikings take the three-point lead. Bellevue would then score four points in a row to start a 7-2 run to take a two-point lead. An unforced error by Valley City State made it 10-8 Bruins. Like the first set, Valley City State came back to tie it at 10-10 on an ace by JayCee Richter. But Bellevue would go on a 6-2 run to take control of the set. The Vikings would cut the lead to two on a kill by Emma Lucas to make it 21-19 Bruins. That would be as close as the Vikings would get as the Bruins closed out the set with a 4-2 run to win 25-21.

Valley City State would get off to a good start in the third set. Kills by Hagler would make it 3-1 and 4-2 for Valley City State. But Bellevue would go on a 7-1 run to take a five-point lead. A kill by Chloe Cloud made it 11-6 Bruins. A kill by Emma Lucas would cap a 7-3 run for Valley City State to cut the lead to 14-13 Bruins. But a four-point run for Bellevue made it 18-13 as the Bruins took control of the set. It was back-and-forth from that point as the Bruins won the third set 25-19 to win the match 3-0.

Macy Fridgen led the Vikings with nine kills and a .190 hitting percentage. Eden Carrier had seven kills with a .333 hitting percentage. Emma Lucas and Danielle Hagler each had four kills for the Vikings. Madden Bogenreif had 13 assists and eight digs. Gracie Schumacher had nine assists and six digs. JayCee Richter and Delani Clarke each had ten digs. Morgan Freije led the net defense with four blocks (2 solo, 2 assist).