Bellevue, Neb. & Madison, S.D. - Mayville State University Comet Volleyball headed south this weekend taking on the newly ranked No. 7 Bellevue Bruins and the Dakota State Trojans who are receiving votes in the Top 25 NAIA Rankings.

The Bruins & Trojans were both able to take down the Comets in three straight sets. 

vs. Bruins L (12-25, 14-25, 21-25)

All three sets would be tough for the Comets as the Bruins would lead Mayville State in almost every category. 

Samantha Passa - 5 kills, 9 digs, 2 service aces
Claire Bjorneby - 7 igs, 2 service aces
Lindsey Nyhagen - 10 assists, 4 digs
Madison McKinnon had 8 kills

"Bellevue is a good team and we knew coming in that we needed to slow down their offense and make them do different things," said head coach Katie Aasen. "I don't think we were able to execute that part of our game plan."

vs. Trojans L (24-26, 21-25, 18-25)

Set 1 was the best set the Comets played all weekend. There were 10 ties and 6 different lead changes and neither team would be in the lead by more than 2 points the entire set. 

After set 1 went 26-24, the Comets would stay in set 2 and 3 but would only hold a lead twice between the two sets.

Comet senior, Samantha Passa, continued to shine for Mayville State as she had another double double with 11 kills and 15 digs.

Madison McKinnon, Abby Cox and Andrea Majchrzak each had 7 kills a piece. Noelle Erickson had 17 assists and 6 digs & Lindsey Nyhagen had 18 assists and 8 digs.

"We had a great start against Dak, which is exactly what we wanted after playing the night before," said Aasen. "Long rallies that we weren't able to finish hurt us in the long run. Defensively, we were able to stay in it, but needed our offense to finish during those crucial times."

The Comets will head to Billings, Montana next Friday and Saturday for the North Star - Frontier Crossover. Mayville State will take on Montana State University-Northern Friday and then play the University of Providence & Rocky Mountain College on Saturday.

"Moving forward, we need to keep working on our setter to hitter offense connection. The Frontier match ups next weekend will be tough. We will continue to see great teams on our schedule all season long," added Aasen.

For full schedule details visit: https://msucomets.com/sports/womens-volleyball/schedule