MAYVILLE, ND – The Mayville State University Comets had a tough task Friday night as they hosted the fourth-ranked nationally Viterbo V-Hawks in North Star Athletic Association play at the Lewy Lee Fieldhouse in Mayville. The Comets kept the match close throughout the night, falling in the first two sets by identical scores, a two-point margin, before falling in the final set by five points.
"It was disappointing," Comet head coach Lindsey Johnson said. "We competed, but I felt we came out with a lack of intensity and grit."
In the first two sets of the night, which went to the V-Hawks by scores of 25-23, one team would start out hot, while the other clawed back.
In the first set, Viterbo jumped out to a 3-0 lead, only to have the Comets answer with two points of their own. The teams then traded points, which led to a 4-1 run by the Comets, with Elora Passa scoring two kills, and Victoria Johnson one, giving Mayville State the early 6-5 lead. The teams would then trade points, until it was Ashley Pyburn putting the Comets up 8-7.
The V-Hawks stopped the Comet rally and went on a 3-0 rally of their own, pulling ahead 10-8 on a pair of Abbey Johnson service aces off the hands of Comet freshman Amy Seim. The Comets stopped the rally and pulled to within one point, on a kill by Kiana Johnson.
Then, the V-Hawks again went on a run, this time a 4-0 run, pulling ahead themselves ahead of the Comets 14-9.
Later in the set, with the Comets down 19-14, a pair of errors by the V-Hawks, leading to a Jordyn Lucas service ace, pulled Mayville State to within 19-17.
The two teams would then go two points-for-two points, but it was Viterbo's Maya Roberts who put the set away with a kill on a pass from Johnson.
The second set was all Viterbo in the early stages, with the V-Hawks pulling out to a 11-3 lead on the strength of good serving and setting up by Lauryn Sobasky. The Comets broke that run, however, with a mini 3-0 run of their own, as Johnson figured in on all three points—a kill, a total block and a ½ block—to cut the lead to 11-6.
Sobasky made it 12-6, followed by another two Comet points.
The V-Hawks, ahead 13-8, gave up five straight points, three of which were off attack errors by Katie Frohmader, letting Mayville State back into the game at 13-13. Then, momentum switched back to the V-Hawks, as they went on their own 4-0 streak, with Johnson serving up two aces as a part of the run. The two teams would go back-and-forth, with the V-Hawks capturing set two, 25-23.
That set up a winner-take-all third set.
The teams battled back-and-forth, with no team garnering more than a three-point advantage until late in the contest.
With the game tied 18-18, three Maya Roberts kills pulled the V-Hawks ahead 22-18, but Kenzie Winker's attack error made it an exciting three-point contest, 22-19.
Roberts and Winker then had one kill each, putting the match 24-19. Roberts would, on the next serve, commit an attack error, bringing the Comets to within four points, 24-20.
But, on the very next play, Johnson passed the ball to Roberts, who found a spot on the opposite side of the floor, putting the set away 25-20 and giving the V-Hawks the road win.
Johnson and Hannah Bliss led the Comets with six kills each; Passa had 22 assists; and Jayden Warner had 20 digs to lead the Comets.
Mayville State (14-10, 4-4 NSAA) will host Waldorf on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. at the Lewy Lee Fieldhouse.
"Waldorf always puts out a very good team," Johnson said. "We have to show up tomorrow, bring our intensity and offense. I think we'll be alright."
The V-Hawks (23-5, 7-1 NSAA) will travel to the Strode Center in Aberdeen, S.D., where they'll take on the Presentation College Saints on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.