The Comet Volleyball team hosted the #5 team in the country, the Viterbo University V-Hawks at home in North Star Athletic Association action tonight. The Comets brought their best early to the V-Hawks, but were unable to keep it up as Viterbo swept the Comets in three straight sets. 

The first set saw Viterbo come out strong to show the Comets why they are one of the top programs in the country.  An early run by the V-Hawks saw them jump out with a 5-1 lead, but the Comets would turn things around with a 10-5 run of their own to go ahead 11-10. Mayville State took advantage of errors made on the V-Hawk side and combined them with some timely kills from Kiana Johnson and Victoria Johnson on that run. The Comets would extend it to a 15-13 lead after a Natalie Hadrava service ace and another error from the V-Hawks, forcing them into a timeout.  It helped halt the Comets' momentum a bit as Viterbo rattled off 5 straight kills, which included 3 straight kills by Mia Garant.  That forced MSU to take a timeout of their own and readjust their strategy. Cassidy Miller and Jana Mehus would add some kills for the Comets to climb out of the deficit after some V-Hawk errors, the game would become tied at 20. The game would inch its way to a few more ties at 21, 22, 24 and 25 points each until the V-Hawks were able to secure the victory in the first set after successive kills from Katie Fromander and Lydia Xu. The V-Hawks had an impressive 23 kills alone in this set out of their 27 points scored. 

For Set 2, the V-Hawks would again have a tight battle early on, but the Comets found it difficult to contain them later.  For MSU, Hannah Bliss and Jana Mehus combined for 5 kills as the set worked its way to a 8-8 tie.  From that point, the V-Hawks went on an extended 12-6 run with many kills balanced out amongst Katie Fromander and Aubrey Aspen. It caused Coach Lindsey Johnson to call a timeout for the Comets and try to fix things, but the V-Hawks kept things in command with a 25-15 win.

Set 3 was a bit similar in how the second set began with the Comets falling behind early but tying it up at 7 each.  The V-Hawks' front row was a bit too much to contain in this one, as they would rack up 20 kills out of their 25 points.  The Comets get it to within 3 when it reached 15-18, but Viterbo finished off the set and the match with a 7-3 run to take it 25-18 to end with a 3-0 sweep over the home team.

Coach Lindsey Johnson knew it was going to be a tough battle against such a strong team, and was happy with her team's level of play tonight in the contest. "I thought we came out very strong in the first set and made them make some adjustments. We were aggressive and gritty and it was fun to see our kids compete hard. Viterbo is a tough team but I was pleased with how we competed tonight."

Viterbo nearly doubled the Comets output in Kills, collecting 61 overall to MSU's 32 as a team. The V-Hawks had four players in double figures for kills, Aubrey Aspen had a game-leading 14, followed by Lydia Xu with 13, Miah Garent with 11 and Katie Fromander with 10. For the Comets, Jana Mehus led with 8 kills and Victoria Johnson had 6.  

In Assists, Viterbo's Laura Sobasky had a game-leading 29 assists, followed by teammate Chloe Jakscht with 24.  The Comets' own Jana Mehus also had 24 for her team. Defensively, MSU's Jayden Warner led all players in digs with 14, her teammate Natalie Hadrava had 10.  The V-Hawks also had two in double figures with Katie Fromander collecting 12 and teammate Jenna Phillips with 11. Lydia Xu would have 5 blocks total for the V-Hawks to lead her team, the Comets had Cassidy Miller and Victoria Johnson collecting 3 blocks each. 

The Comets (9-8, 1-1 NSAA) return to action early on Saturday at home, playing against NSAA foe Waldorf College at 1 p.m.