MAYVILLE, ND – It was your typical night at the Lewy Lee Fieldhouse Tuesday in Mayville State's home-opener volleyball match, where the Comets hosted the Concordia (Minn.) Cobbers. With students decked out in white, they cheered their Comets onto a 3-0 sweep of the Cobbers.
 
"It was fun," head coach Lindsey Johnson said of the game.
 
It was all Comets in the first set, with Mayville State jumping out to a quick 13-3 lead, on the arms of strong serving by Hannah Bliss, who recently picked up her 1,000^th kill. On Tuesday night, it was celebration time for Jayden Warner, who picked up her 2,000^th dig as a Comet.
 
Bliss says it feels good to reach her milestone.
 
"It's a pretty good feeling," she said. "It wouldn't have happened without my teammates, so I have them to thank."
 
She picked up her 1,000^th kill last weekend in a tournament.
 
For Warner, she reached her milestone in her hometown, in front of family and friends.
 
"I didn't think it would happen," she said. "It's pretty cool to get 2,000 in college."
 
Warner says the home fans are supportive of the Comets.
 
Johnson says the accomplishments are part of the big picture of Comet volleyball.
 
"We've had some kids do some big things individually," Johnson said. "These seniors have really paced us."
 
Bliss served for eight straight points to put the Comets up by ten.
 
In the opening set, the most the Comets would give up at one given time is two points, walking away with a convincing 25-11 win.
 
A block on the first Comet point of the night placed the momentum on Mayville State's side.
 
"It really set the tone for what it was going to be like," Johnson said.
 
The second set was back-and-forth from the get-go, with each team jockeying for position, but it was an attack error by Gabby Renelt that put the game away, 25-19.
 
"They (Concordia) stepped up their game," Johnson said.
 
Set three was mostly back-and-forth, but Concordia set the tempo early with a 6-1 run to go ahead 6-4 early.
 
The two teams would continue to fight, but Mayville State would end up widening the gap to 22-17 late, before Concordia head coach Faith Dooley called a time out to settle her team down. Dooley's strategy didn't work right away, as Elora Passa served up a point on an attack error by Concordia, making it 23-17.
 
Concordia then pulled to within 23-18 by virtue of Passa's serving error.
 
With the match on the line, back-to-back kills by Ashley Pyburn ended Concordia's comeback run and the night, 25-18.
 
Victoria Johnson came up big for Mayville State, racking up 13 kills. Bliss added in 10 for the Comets. Passa had 34 of Mayville State's 35 assists. Warner and Mason Hart had 25 digs and 13 digs, respectively.
 
Mayville State improves to 3-6 on the season, and will take to the road next weekend for a tournament in Nebraska. They'll return home September 14 and 15 against Lakehead University.