The Comets Volleyball team defeated the Bruins of Bellevue in a five set thriller in the home conference opener. Victoria Johnson led the Comets with 13 kills, followed by Bliss, who had 12 in the win. Pyburn and Johnson each had nine blocks. Passa finished with a team-high 40 assist, while Jayden Warner and Amy Seim had 33 and 10 digs, respectively. If you want to rewatch this game, click on this link. 

MAYVILLE, ND -- Bellevue came to the Lewy Lee Fieldhouse Friday night to take on the Mayville State University Comets in the opening day of the 2019 North Star Athletic Association conference season, and both teams came ready to play. Battling poor weather conditions outside, along with a short power outage, the Comets surged to a five-set victory in front of a raucous crowd.

"It was awesome," Comets head coach Lindsey Johnson said of the match.

The gym saw plenty of action, but the fifth set staged the largest opportunity of the night for both teams. Neither team was able to gain a momentum shift, Johnson said. But, late in the fifth, the momentum ended up fading on the biggest points of the Comet season so far.

The biggest point of the match was the final one, as Elora Passa and Ashley Pyburn teamed up for the block, giving Mayville State the fifth set win, 15-13.

"That was a huge block," Johnson said of Passa's winning block. "Right now, that's the biggest block of her career."

Elated with the win, Passa was excited for the team.

"We knew that they were going to go to the outsides, because they have some big hitters," she said. "It was just something we had to expect, and we got it done."

The conference win for Mayville State marked the Comets' tenth win in a row, one win short of tying the Comet record for consecutive wins in a season, set at 11 by the 2001 team, who had 11 wins in a row to start the 2001 season. More importantly, the Comets knocked off a nationally ranked team, in the Bruins.

From the start of the night, the Comets and Bruins played back-and-forth volleyball the entire way. The largest set margin of victory Friday night was six points, a 25-19 Bellevue win in the first set.

Set one saw the momentum shift in Mayville State's favor, as the Comets jumped out to an early 4-1 lead on back-to-back-to-back attack errors by Bellevue, followed by a kill by Bellevue's Coree Lipovsky, and then another attack error by the Bruins. After the teams traded points, Bellevue went on a 7-0 run, pulling ahead 13-6. Mayville State then fought back and forth with the Bruins, pulling it to within four points at one time, 18-14, on a kill by Victoria Johnson, on a beautiful pass from Passa. Bellevue walked away with the 25-19 win in the first set.

The second set was back-and-forth from the get-go, after Hannah Bliss' kill to make it 3-1 Mayville State, the two teams jockeyed for position throughout the set, with no team gaining a clear advantage throughout, until the very end of the night. Nine ties throughout the set was the key, as no team was able to sustain any type of run. The Comets picked up the set two win in extra points, 27-25.

The third set was all Bellevue again, with Mayville State not able to manage to lead the set, and only tie the set up four times throughout. It was Bellevue who walked away with the third set, pushing the Comets to a pivotal fourth set. Set three ended 25-21 in favor of Bellevue, with the Comets making a late charge in the end, but coming up short.

Determined to force the winner-take-all fifth set, Jordyn Lucas came to the service line, with the Comets up 3-1, engineering the Comet offense to back-to-back points off of Bellevue attack errors, commanding Mayville State to a 5-1 lead.

Bellevue kept sneaking back, but as soon as they would make a run, Mayville State would end it. That's how the game continued for much of the fourth set, with no team taking any larger than a six-point lead into the late stages.

Mayville State took over, up 22-20. Johnson had another of her big kills, followed by a Bellevue attack error, setting up match point, 24-20.

It was a serve by Payton Richter, for the match. Olivia Galas set up Sierra Athen, who found the Comet floor, pulling the game to within 24-21.

With the win, Mayville State improves to 1-0 on the North Star Athletic Association season.

Victoria Johnson led the Comets with 13 kills, followed by Bliss, who had 12 in the win. Pyburn and Johnson each had nine blocks. Passa finished with a team-high 40 assist, while Jayden Warner and Amy Seim had 33 and 10 digs, respectively.