Mayville, N.D. – The Mayville State University Volleyball team dropped a five-set match to Dakota Wesleyan this afternoon by a final score of 2-3 (28-26, 25-17, 16-25, 21-25, and 10-15). The Comets drop to 0-1 in the regular season.
It was all tied up at 13 in set one before the Comets went on a 7-2 run to give them a five-point cushion nearing the end of the set. The Tigers followed that up with a 7-0 run to take the lead at 19-21. The Tigers had two set points before a kill by Victoria Johnson and a block by Johnson and Elora Passa to even the score at 24.
Mayville State would close out the first set with a kill from Johnson and an attacking error by the Tiger to give the Comets a 1-0 set lead. The Comets kept the momentum going in the second set, as they jumped out 15-6 lead and cruised to a second set victory 25-17.
DWU went on an 8-0 run in the later stages of game three to take game three by a final of 16-25. The Tigers would put together another big run in the fourth set to give themselves a 16-7 lead. The Comets would answer right back with their own 7-1 run to cut the lead to 11-16. MSU would eventually tie the game at 20 from a kill from Kaitlin Leier.
Dakota Wesleyan would finish the fourth set on a 5-1 run to force the decisive game five. The Tigers would start game five fast, scoring six out of the first seven points. Mayville State could not recover the slow start in game five and drop the fifth set by a final of 10-15.
The Comets finished the day with 55 kills on 192 attempts for a hitting percentage of .130. MSU also finished with seven blocks, 49 assists, and 93 digs on the game. Johnson had a game-high of 21 kills on 50 attempts. Passa was the other Comet in double figures in kills with 13. She also finished with 22 assists and 2.5 blocks. Rachel Hill recorded 25 assists in her first game as a Comet.
Mason Hart led Mayville State in digs with 31 and only one serve receive error. Amy Seim and Jordyn Lucas were both in double figures in digs with 17 and 14, respectively. Ashley Pyburn tallied nine kills and one block in today's loss.
The Comets are back on Sunday with two non-conference games at the Lewy Lee. The first game is against rival Valley City State, with first serve starting at 12 PM. Then game two will start around 6 PM against GPAC member Hastings College.
