The Mayville State Comets returned to their home court at the Lewy Lee Fieldhouse to take on their conference and in-state rival, Valley City State, on Wednesday evening. It was a contentious effort on both ends, as both squads were looking to use a win to move up in the conference rankings. MSU would take the first one, but were unable get past the Vikings in the final three sets of the night.

VCSU started the first set with a 5-0 run, until the Comets' own Cassidy Miller hit a nice groove with 4 kills as part of an 8-2 run from MSU. The Comets would stay in it with some balanced attacking from Victoria Johnson and Hannah Bliss at the midpoint of the set. Bliss would prove to be a go-to player in the end, as the Comets finished it out with an 8-1 run that included 3 more kills from her, 6 total in the set for Bliss, and 2 of those as the final two points for the Comets in the set.  

Set 2 had the same feel in the start of the first set, with the Vikings jumping out to a quick 7-0 lead with 5 kills and a service ace in that run. Clarissa Olson and Paige Benson helped to set the tone in this set for the Vikings, as Benson had 7 kills and Olson collected 6 within the set, part of 20 total for the Vikings. The Comets made a run of their own to close the gap, climbing back within two on a 12-7 run caused by several Viking errors along the way. Cassidy Miller and Victoria Johnson were coming up big with some key kills and blocks to stay close to the Vikings on their way to narrow it down to 19-21. VCSU was able to pull away with a 4-1 run to end the set, including their final two points from Paige Benson to tie it up at one set each.

The Comets didn't let VCSU get out to a huge start in the third set and took a 6-3 lead of their own to try and set a tone. This one would remain a tight one with nine ties, each team having no more than a 3-point lead throughout the set. Hannah Bliss paced the Comets attack, netting 7 kills alone as part of the Comet's 18 total in the set. The Comets would come within one at 21-22, but kills from Taylor Sargent, McKinley Putnam and Clarissa Olson would close the door for the Vikings in a 25-23 win to take a 2-1 lead. 

The competitive sides of both teams were still there in the fourth and final set of the night. It almost looked like a carbon copy of Set 3 on the stat sheet: nine ties once again, and each team only leading by as much as 3 in the contest.  The Comets held a slight lead after the game was tied at 7 and kept it on their way to an 18-15 score. From there, the Vikings would go on a 3-0 run that tied it up, causing MSU to take a timeout. The Comets would inch up to a 22-20 lead after it was knotted up at 20 with kills from Victoria Johnson and Hannah Bliss. But, Valley City State would finish out the set and match on a 5-1 run that began with a service ace from Leah Ruter and ended with a kill from Clarissa Olson to win it 25-23, escaping with a 3-1 victory over the Comets. The win lifts the Vikings to a 3-3 conference record, while the Comets are now 1-5 in North Star Athletic Association play. 

The close contest was a heartbreaker for Comets Head Coach Lindsey Johnson and her team. "This was a tough match for us, both teams played so hard and it was a tough one to end up on the losing end of. I felt like we had some chances late in the game to close it out and just couldn't push thru it."

For the Comets, they had 55 kills as a team. Hannah Bliss led the way for them with 16, followed by Cassidy Miller with 13 and Victoria Johnson with 11. Setting them up with 50 assists on the night was Jana Mehus, who also had the game-high in that category. Jayden Warner had another strong performance with 29 digs, backed up on defense by Natalie Hadrava with 13 and Mason Hart with 11. Victoria Johnson led with 5 blocks, followed by Jana Mehus with 4. 

For the Vikings, they had 3 players in double figures in Kills, Clarissa Olson leading the team with a game-high of 20, followed up Paige Benson with 15 and McKinley Putnam with 11. Leah Ruter led with 38 assists, while Reagan Ingstad had 17. Charlotte Huschka collected 24 digs to lead VCSU. Clarissa Olson also led her team with 4 blocks.  

Next up for the Comets will be at home on Saturday, October 6th versus Dickinson State at 1 p.m. in another NSAA conference battle.