The University of Minnesota Crookston Volleyball team dropped the first two sets, won the third but could not come back in the fourth and fell to the Yellowjackets of Montana State University – Billings in four sets (25-16, 25-19, 19-25, 25-21) to conclude their games at the Black Hills State Tournament in Spearfish, SD.
SET ONE –
The first set began with the Yellowjackets scoring 5 of the first 6 points, capped off by back-to-back aces from Jahsita Fa’ali’i. A Carmiza Muth ace was able to get the score to 5-4, but the Yellowjackets then exploded to a 9-2 run to take a 14-6 lead. Christine Funk and Jordan Taulua added two more service aces to fuel the fire. Madison Carsten added a kill after a timeout to cut the lead to 6, but MSU-B were able to maintain the 6-point lead, and then both teams continued to alternate points until a Taulua kill made it 22-14 Yellowjackets. They were able to put the set away at 25-16, with back-to-back Fa’ali’i kills to end it.
SET TWO-
The second set continued the Yellowjacket momentum, scoring 4 of the first 6 points of the set. Kills by Megan Schoenfelder and Lexi Scharold tied the set at 4, and the lead stayed within one consistently until UMC capitalized on a mistake to take a 9-8 lead, but then at 10-8, the Yellowjackets put together a 4-0 run to take a 12-10 lead. That sparked an even bigger run, taking a 16-12 lead after two consecutive errors. The lead stayed at 4 until two consecutive Julia Gordon kills made it 22-16, leading to a final score of 25-19, giving MSU-B a 2-0 set lead.
SET THREE –
At the start of the third set, teams were alternating points to start. A Muth service ace gave UMC a 3-2 lead, but then the Yellowjackets went on a 4-1 run to take a 6-4 lead. The lead stayed at 2 until two consecutive Yellowjacket errors tied the set at 8. Then, two Carsten kills and another mistake made it 11-8 UMC. The Golden Eagle lead stayed at 3 all the way up to 16-13, before another Yellowjacket error made it 18-13. The Golden Eagles were quickly able to re-establish a 5-point lead at 20-15, and were able to maintain the lead for the remainder of the set, winning the set 25-19, and advancing to a 4th set.
SET FOUR-
UMC continued their strong play into the 4th set scoring 3 of the first 4 points, before MSU-B scored the next three to take a 4-3 lead. The two teams then continued to trade points until an Addie Allen ace made it 10-7 Yellowjackets. The lead then stayed at three, with both teams limiting their errors and playing the cleanest volleyball of the match. A common theme of this match were the serving team losing the point the majority of the time, and that continued on in the 4th set until 3 in a row by the Yellowjackets made it 16-11. UMC just didn’t have an answer from then on. The lead stayed at 5 until 21-16, but then, all of a sudden, three straight errors and a Muth ace cut the lead down to 22-20. Right after a timeout, however, MSU-B was able to finish the job, winning 25-21 and winning the match in four sets.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| Minnesota Crookston | 16 | 19 | 25 | 21 |
| Montana State – Billings | 25 | 25 | 19 | 25 |
For UMC:
Kills- Madison Carsten 11
Blocks- Carizma Muth, Emma Malek 1
Digs- Kailey Waasdorp 22
Assists- Baily Teveldal 41
Aces- Carizma Muth 3
