Box Score Mayville, N.D. - The Comets Volleyball team hosted conference rival Dickinson State at the Lewy Lee on Friday night. After they won the first two sets, Mayville State had to fend off a furious Bluehawk comeback before winning in five sets.

Set one featured numerous lead changes and ties in the first 20 rallies. The Comets made the first decisive run sparked by Madison McKinnon and turned a 10-9 deficit into a 17-12 advantage. The Bluehawks scored five straight points later in the set to tie it at 19. Mayville State responded with a 5-1 run to lead 24-20. Dickinson kept fighting, but a Nicole Kortan kill sealed the set one victory for the Comets 25-23.

Mayville State jumped out to an early 7-3 lead in set two, only to see the Bluehawks tally four straight points to knot the score at 7. A 6-1 rally later in the set gave the Comets a 19-12. Kortan continued to pace the offense with three kills during this decisive run.

Dickinson could get no closer than 5 points the rest of the way as Mayville State took set two 25-18.

In set 3, the Comets looked to finish the sweep and slowly stretched their lead to 14-10. Dickinson stormed back with an 8-2 run to retake the lead 18-16. The Bluehawks managed to keep that momentum going to extend the match to a fourth set by winning 25-20.

"Communication for us is crucial because it is in every aspect of our game. Running offensive routes, talking on serve receive, back row defense talking to our hitters, the bench talking to the people on the floor, we thrive off of effective communication," said Head Coach Katie Aasen.

Thyra Peterick jolted the Comets offense early in set four with three kills to give Mayville State an early 9-5 lead. Dickinson kept fighting back and tied the score at 9.

The Comets flipped the momentum again with a 9-3 run to take an 18-12 lead. Instead of folding, the Bluehawks hardened their resolve and scored 13 of the last 16 points to tie the match at two sets apiece.

"Offensively, we were aggressive at times which was good, but we had too many errors. In that 4th set we had 10 hitting errors, that's 10 points right there," added Aasen.

In set five, Elora Passa put the Comets on her back early with three decisive kills, with the third giving the Comets a 10-5 lead. Dickinson still had one burst left and got to within three at 13-10 but kills by McKinnon and Kortan sealed the victory for the Comets at 15-10.

Elora Passa racked up 17 kills and collected 25 assists, with Kortan hitting double figures at 12 kills. Peyton Richter added 24 assists, Natalie Hadrava piled up 34 digs and Thyra Peterick blocked four attacks.

Aasen ended the night saying, "I am just proud that we figured out how to win, all wins don't have to look the same. However, going into next week's matches, a good goal is to play our best volleyball in both matches. It's a good challenge for us as it will be two pretty diffrent teams we face. How we show up will be crucial for both games."

The win bumps the Comets record to 14-7 and 5-3 in conference. Mayville State continues their homestand with a match against the #5 Viterbo V-Hawks next Friday, October 27th for Family Appreciate Night. First serve is 6:00pm. Saturday, October 28th volleyball will celebrate senior night.