Joliet, Ill. – The Mayville State University Volleyball team split the first day in Illinois defeating Governors State 3-0 and losing to the University of St. Francis in five sets 2-3. The Comets move to 14-5 on the regular season.

Game One:

A back-and-forth game to start the first set as the score was tied at five in the first set before the Comets would take a 10-7 lead highlighted by a kill from Pyburn and a service ace from Hill. Later in the set, Mayville State was up 19-16 before they finished the set on a 6-2 run to take the first set by a final score of 25-18.

The Comets would start the second set quickly, as they started the set on a 9-4 run. After the Jaguars scored the next point, MSU would go another large run of 7-1 run to give the Comets a 16-6 lead. Mayville State would cruise to a second set victory by a final of 25-14. The Comets were up in the third set by a score of 5-4 before a run of 6-0 to give the comets a seven-point advantage early in the set.

Governors State would close the Comet lead to four at 11-7 but the Comets would take advantage of some GSU errors and gained an eight-point lead at 17-9. The Comets would cruise to a third-set victory of 25-16 and pick up the sweep against the Jaguars. The Comets finished the game with 34 kills, eight attack errors on 79 total attempts for a .329 hitting percentage. The Comets also finished with six aces, four blocks, 31 assists, and 36 digs.

Leading the Comet attack in game one was Victoria Johnson finishing with 13 kills, zero attack errors, 23 attacks, and one block. Elora Passa finished with seven kills, 10 assists, eight digs, and two service aces. Lily Pyle finished with six kills on seven attempts for a .857 hitting percentage and two digs. Rachel Hills finished with a team-high 13 assists and recorded five digs. Mason Hart finished with tied for a team-high with eight digs in the back row.

Game Two:

It was a tight game early in the first set as the game was tied at five before the Comets went on an 8-2 run to give them a 15-7 advantage in the first set. Another run shortly after that of 5-1 to extend the lead to 19-8 and cruised to a first set victory of 25-16. Mayville State started the second set slow as the Fighting Saints started the first set up 5-1. Mayville State would tie the game at 10 after they were down 5-9.

The Comets were down 22-20 in the second set and USF was down to set point at 24-23 before the Comets rattled off two straight points to force a set point. USF would score the final three points of the set and win the second set by a final score of 25-27. For the second straight set, the Comets started slow trailing 1-6. MSU continued to trail throughout the whole third set as the Comets would trim the lead to one multiple time but could not close that gap and lost the third set by a final of 21-25.

The Comets were trailing 6-10 in the fourth set before three straight points cut the lead to one at 9-10. Mayville State would tie the game at 12 before a 6-2 run by the Fighting Saints gave them an 18-14 advantage in the fourth set. The Comets were trailing by four when MSU scored the next five points and took a one-point lead at 20-19. Mayville State would win the fourth set by a final of 25-23 and forced a fifth set.

For the fourth time in the match, the Comets were trailing early in the set by multiple points. USF went on a 5-1 run to take a six-point lead at 10-4 and would win the fifth set by a final of 10-15. Mayville State would finish the game with 58 kills, 23 hitting errors on 205 attempts for a .171 hitting percentage. The Comets also finished with four aces, seven blocks, 53 assists, and 100 digs.

Victoria Johnson led the Comets in game two with 17 kills on 50 attempts for a .220 hitting percentage and one block assist. Elora Passa finished the game with 16 kills, 20 setting assists, 12 digs, and three total blocks. Rachel Hill led the Comets with 29 assists and 12 digs. Amy Seim finished the game with a team-high 25 digs. Mason Hart tallied 21 digs in the back row for the Comets.

The Comets are back in action tomorrow morning as they match up against Trinity Christian and Ottawa University Arizona. The first serve is scheduled for 9:00 am and 11:00 am at Trinity Christian College.