The Mayville State Comets were able to get their North Star Athletic Association conference game in at home this evening against the Presentation College Saints. The snow was thick outside, but it was nice and toasty within the confines of the Lewy Lee Fieldhouse, with both teams heating up the court in a tight contest. Mayville State was able to sweep the Saints, finishing each set strong near the end to secure the win.
The first set really set the tone for how the night played out. Each set had both sides answering each other's small runs, which produced multiple ties throughout the match. There were 10 ties alone in the first set, all the way to 19. MSU's
Victoria Johnson seemed to be the answer to Presentation's Olivia Stet, as the two were both producing kills throughout that battle for their teams. The Comets got the best of the Saints in the first set, able to run it out on a 6-1 run, with
Victoria Johnson adding 3 kills within that run to help give Mayville State the 1-0 edge in the 25-20 victory.
In the second set, there wasn't quite as many ties as the first one, as the set was knotted at scores of 6, 13, 14, and 15. After that point, the Comets worked hard to maintain the lead, with
Cassidy Miller and
Natalie Hadrava sharing the load in some well-timed kills. Olivia Stet was still continuing to be a bother for MSU, as the Saints narrowed the Comets lead down to 1 at 22-21.
Victoria Johnson helped finish off the last three points for MSU to capture the 25-21 win, getting a kill and then an assisted block with help from teammate
Hannah Bliss for the final point.
Presentation College wouldn't go away without a fight in the third and final set. It continued to be a slugfest between the teams, with 7 ties on the way to 18 points apiece. Olivia Stet and Evy Peterson were hard to handle for the Comets in this one again. As soon as the Comets would take a small lead, PC would find a way to close it and tie things up again. The Saints would take some one-point leads after ties at 16 and 17, but after that, the Comets took control. MSU rattled off five straight points, that small run was fed by a
Jana Mehus dump kill and two successive strikes from
Victoria Johnson. Johnson was able to help finish out the game with a kill for point 24, and a PC ball handling error gave the Comets a 25-20 win for the home sweep.
Head Coach
Lindsey Johnson was pleased with her team's performance at home. "To get a big conference win at home and in a sweep really feels good for us. As we're nearing the final stretch of the conference season, those home wins can really help build our confidence, especially in front of our awesome fans."
Leaders for the Comets in kills were
Victoria Johnson with 18, plus
Cassidy Miller and
Hannah Bliss providing 7 each. As a team, the Comets had 46 kills total.
Jana Mehus led with 41 assists. It was another good night defensively for the Comets, collecting 58 total digs.
Jayden Warner led her squad with 24,
Mason Hart had 12 as well.
Victoria Johnson also led the team with 7 blocks.
For the Saints, Olivia Stet had a game-high 20 kills, followed by teammate Evy Peterson with 10. Maddie Goetz led with 24 assists, while Brooke Swanson had 21. Joely Roe led her team in digs with 25, followed by Laura Babcock with 9. Kayla Wolfe led her squad with 3 blocks. As a team, the Saints had slightly more kills than the Comets with 49 as a team, plus they tied the Comets in total digs with 58.
The Comets now move up to 5th place in the conference with the win this evening, with an NSAA record of 3-5 and 13-11 overall. They also have a three-game winning streak to go with them on their way up to Canada for the 4-game series this weekend. Presentation College now sits at 2-6 in the NSAA and a 9-12 overall record.
