The Mayville State Comets Volleyball team began their last road stretch tonight with the first of 4 final road games to finish out the regular season. The first stop on their route was at #7 Viterbo University in LaCrosse, WI to take on the V-Hawks in North Star Athletic Association play.  Viterbo entered the contest with a perfect 10-0 NSAA record and a national ranking to go with their 24-5 record this season. The Comets worked hard throughout the contest to try and come away with an upset, but Viterbo got the best of them in the end.

The V-Hawks started out the first set with a steady lead, climbing ahead to an 11-5 mark and building it to a 7 point stretch at 16-9. The Comets would fight back to close that gap, doing so with some key blocks and kills coming from Natalie Hadrava, Jana Mehus, and even Jayden Warner providing some punch in the run. MSU would come within 2, but Viterbo ended the set with a 7-2 effort to take a 25-18 win over MSU in Set 1.

Set 2 had a different story to it, as both teams were in for a close fight. MSU jumped out to a quick 5-1 lead that surprised Viterbo, but the V-Hawks would battle it back to some ties as the set became knotted at 9. The Comets drove ahead on a 4-1 run that included 2 kills from Victoria Johnson, forcing VU into a timeout.  MSU tried to maintain their lead and gain it back after some ties, getting a 23-20 advantage. Viterbo managed to fight back, even with the Comets at match points with 24-22 and 24-23 leads. With the game tied at 24, Viterbo would finish it out with a 3-1 run that was completed with some kills coming from Lydia Xu.  

The Comets kept fighting away though in the third set, building a steady lead with a strong front row attack series coming from Victoria Johnson, Hannah Bliss and Cassidy Miller.  That helped the team gain a 16 to 10 advantage to force the V-Hawks into their first timeout. They would continue to keep them away to the 20-15 mark for another V-Hawks timeout, but faced a small setback when Viterbo went on a small 4-1 run.  That was cause for the Comets to take a timeout at that point. Victoria Johnson came up big in the end of this one, getting 3 big blocks and a kill for the final four Comet points for a victory in Set #3. 

The momentum kept going in the Comets' favor as the fourth set began, rattling off 4 straight points to begin the set.  MSU would keep them away and build up their lead by as many as 5 to jump out ahead to a 17 to 12 lead. Viterbo would take a timeout at that point and turn their game around quickly, going on a 6-1 run that tied it up at 18 to force a Comet timeout.  The V-Hawks would show their strengths again as the #7 team in the country and fought off the Comets with a 6-2 run to end the set and take the match, 3-1 overall. 

Coach Lindsey Johnson was proud of the fight her team displayed against one of the strongest teams in the country.  "I was pleased with how hard we played tonight. Our blocking was really good tonight and I felt like we played with a lot of heart."  

As Coach Johnson noted, the blocking for the team tonight was stellar with 11 total team blocks, plus Victoria Johnson leading with 6 of them and Cassidy Miller with 5.  Viterbo only had 6 total team blocks in comparison. 

In kills, it was a great night at the net for both Victoria Johnson and Cassidy Miller, who led the Comets with 12 each. Jana Mehus recorded another 33 assists on the night.  Defensively, Jayden Warner led MSU with 19 digs, followed up by Mason Hart with 11, and Jana Mehus narrowly missing a double-double night with 9 digs. 

Next up for the Comets will be Waldorf University in Forest City, IA on Saturday, October 27th at 1pm in another NSAA contest.