USF swept Black Hills State on the second day of the Locos Grill Transition Tournament in Lake Charles, Mo. The Cougars won the individual sets 25-16, 25-22 and 25-21.
Led by Chanda Goedken and Emily Johnson, the Cougars improved to 14-26 overall while the Yellow Jackets slipped to 10-21. USF is now 2-1 against BHSU this season.
USF has won six of their last eight matches.
The Cougars hit a solid .272 as a team and limited the Yellow Jackets to a .160 hitting percentage, due in large part to nine team blocks, including five block assists by senior pillar Alyssa Chambers (Sioux Falls/Roosevelt).
USF took the opening set by the score of 25-16. Leading 6-1, they scored six of the next nine points, including pair of kills by Samantha Lovell (Bellevue, Neb.) to take a 12-4 advantage. BHSU never got closer than four points the rest of the way. Lovell finished the set with three kills and Chanda Goedken (Farley, Iowa) posted five kills for the Cougars. Emily Johnson (Platte) added two kills and a pair of aces.
The Cougars held the Yellowjackets to a .070 hitting clip in the second frame en route to a 25-22 set win. USF's offense also stalled; the Cougars hit just .116 and were tagged with eight errors. But while the hitters struggled, the Cougar front line was rock-solid; posting four blocks including a set point stuff by Chambers and Sarah Kohler (Sioux Falls/Lincoln) to give the Cougars a 2-0 lead going into the break.
The squads split the first 12 points of the third set before the Cougars pieced together a 4-0 run that was highlighted by back-to-back Goedken stabs to go up 10-6 and force a Yellow Jackets timeout. From there, USF maintained a lead of at least three points until the 22-18 mark, when BHSU battled back with three straight kills to get within one (22-21). Leading 22-21, the Cougars put the match away with kills by Johnson and Lovell and an ace by Stephanie Moller (Sioux Falls/Lincoln).
Goedken had a match-high 13 kills to go along with eight digs. Johnson cranked out 11 kills and one error in 19 attempts for a .526 hitting clip. She also racked up five serving aces.
Lovell added nine kills in 16 attempts for an impressive .562 attack rate.
Stephanie Moller and Charlee Nelson (Mitchell) split the setter duties and tallied 19 and 13 assists, respectively. Nelson has recorded 934 assists during her freshman campaign.
The Cougars are now 2-0 at the Locos Grill Transition Tournament and the no. 1 seed in pool A. They face Minot State at 4:00 p.m. today in the first tournament semifinal.
USF is 1-2 against the Beavers this season.
