SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Despite hitting .279 as a team on 43 kills, the University of Sioux Falls Volleyball Team (12-8, 7-5 NSIC) dropped a 3-0 (24-26, 22-25, 20-25) decision to No. 5 Concordia St. Paul (18-3, 12-0 NSIC) on Friday night at the Stewart Center.
In a match with 21 tie scores and seven lead changes, the Cougars couldn't hang onto leads in the first set and the third set as the Golden Bears rallied to win both. With the setback, USF dropped to 12-8 overall and 7-5 in the NSIC. However, USF has won five of its past seven NSIC matches.
"It was a pleasure to play such a good team. We want to be challenged and we want to play the best the conference has to offer," said USF Head Coach
Dan Mathews, whose team will face Minnesota State-Mankato on Saturday afternoon at 4 pm in the Stewart Center. "Certainly, we experienced both of those things tonight. It was very encouraging us to see us go to solid leads in the first and third sets but we must develop a more confident mindset once we have those leads and finish strong. We feel really good about our match tomorrow and we will try and bring the same energy to that match," he added.
Overall, USF was outhit .353 (51 kills, 15 errors and 102 attacks) to .279 (43 kills, 14 errors, 104 attacks) by CSP. USF was led by senior outside hitter
Averey Yaksich and freshman middle blocker
Jordan Kuper, who both registered 10 kills. With 10 kills, Yaksich now has 832 kills (6
th all-time) and has 314 kills this season, which ranks ninth all-time in school DII history.
Kuper hit .600 on 10 attacks and added solid defense with five block assists. Sophomore
Nicole Jacobson had nine kills and hit .250. Sophomore
Brooklynne Albrecht supplied six kills and hit .600 while freshman
Jordyn Hamm had five kills on eight attacks to hit .624. Senior setter
Krista Goerger had 31 assists, three kills and nine digs for USF. With 745 assists this year, Goerger already ranks seventh for a season in school history. Of course, Goerger continues to set the all-time set assist mark at USF and is at 3,142 for her career.
CSP, which was led by 18 kills from Jasmine Mulvihill and 15 from Emma Schmidt, who hit a match-high .682, had a 5-1 edge in service aces, 10.5-to-6.0 total blocks margin and a 31-27 advantage in digs.
Early in the first set, USF rallied from 4-1 deficit with a 6-3 run to tie the match at 7-7. Kuper had a trio of kills as USF took a 14-10 advantage over the Bears. With a kill from Hamm, USF extended the lead to 17-12 and led, 21-15,, before CSP rallied with an 11-3 run to take the opening set, 26-24. CSP, which had nine kills from Mulvihill, outhit USF, 394-to-.282 with an 18-16 advantage in kills as well as a 5-1 margin in blocks. Jacobson and Kuper led the Cougars with four kills each.
In the second set, CSP took an early 5-3 lead before a trio of kills from Yaksich rallied USF to within, 5-4. Albrecht had a kill as Cougars grabbed a 10-8 lead. However, CSP took off on a 10-3 run for an 18-13 lead. USF answered with a 7-2 run, including two kills from Albrecht, to tie the match at 20-20 and force a CSP timeout. From that point, the Golden Bears outscored USF, 5-2 to take the second set, 25-22. In the set, CSP had an 18-14 kills advantage and 3-0 margin in service aces to edge past the Cougars. Both teams hit at a high rate, connecting at a .333 rate.
With a kill and then a service ace from
Krista Goerger, the Cougars take an early 4-2 lead in set three. Kuper recorded her seventh kill as USF extended the margin to 7-4. The Cougars continued the run and moved ahead 11-5 after a pair of Albrecht kills. CSP answered with 6-1 run to draw within, 12-11. The match was tied at 15 after a Hamm kill. However, the nationally-ranked Bears took over on a closing 10-5 run to finish the match with a 25-20 set win.
