VALLEY CITY, N.D. (VCSUVikings.com)- The fans showed up, and the Vikings sent them home happy.
Playing in front of their home crowd for the first time this season, the Valley City State volleyball team rode the energy in Graichen Gym to a 3-1 conference victory Wednesday night against Dickinson State: 25-21, 25-19, 14-25, 25-16.
The win is the sixth in a row for VCSU, which is now 7-6 overall and 1-0 in the North Star Athletic Association. It is the program’s longest win streak since winning six matches in a row during the 2008 season. Dickinson State drops to 1-9 overall and 0-1 in the NSAA.
The cozy confines of Graichen Gym were packed to standing room only from the first serve on, creating a raucous atmosphere for the conference opener.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better crowd,” said VCSU head coach Adam Longmore. “They were awesome all night. I think especially when our team started to sag a little bit, the crowd got us right back in it. It’s a great way to start the conference season.”
Tied at 20-20 late in the first set, the Vikings came out of a timeout and scored five of the next six points to take set one and the momentum. Senior Clarissa Olson started the rally with a big kill, and freshman Katie Juarezfinished it with a kill on set point.
“There were a lot of jitters for most of the first set,” said VCSU head coach Adam Longmore. “We called a timeout near the end of set one and a lot of us, including myself, still had some butterflies because we were excited to be home in front of our crowd.”
The Vikings opened set two with four straight points, including two of Leah Ruter’s eight service aces on the night. The Blue Hawks would rally back and led by as many as three points at 14-11 before Ruter went on another serving run. The Viking senior setter helped VCSU score seven straight points, including four straight on aces. The run put VCSU up 18-14 en route to a 25-19 victory.
Set three was all Blue Hawks. Dickinson built a 13-4 lead and never looked back as they won 25-14. The Blue Hawks hit .375 in the set, while holding VCSU to negative hitting. The Vikings committed 12 attack errors in the third set.
“Hats off to Dickinson,” said Longmore. “I thought for most of the match they played really well. After scouting them on paper and on film, they played much better than their record and stats show.”
The Vikings regained their momentum quickly in the fourth set as they built a 17-7 lead and never trailed en route to the clinching 25-16 victory. VCSU had its best hitting set of the night, racking up 14 kills and just four errors as part of a .385 hitting performance in the fourth set.
For the match, Valley City State hit .140 while Dickinson State hit .179. The Vikings held a big advantage in serving with 12 aces compared to two for Dickinson. Each team totaled eight block points and 38 digs.
VCSU used a balanced attack most of the night. Paige Benson topped the stat sheet with nine kills and three blocks, while Clarissa Olson and Autumn Johnson each had eight kills and combined for 4.5 blocks. McKinley Putnam totaled seven kills. Ruter had a big match with 24 assists and eight aces. Freshman setter Reagan Ingstad also had 20 assists and an ace. Charlotte Huschka led the defense with 17 digs.
Dickinson State was led by nine kills and 2.5 blocks from Alyssa Wisher and six kills each by Cassie North and Kylie Hadley. Keera Stookey and Karlie Clevland each had 10 assists. Makenzie Digesualdo had nine digs for the defense.
Up next: Valley City State hosts University of Jamestown on Tuesday, Sept. 18. Junior varsity starts at 5 p.m. and varsity plays at 7 p.m. Dickinson State hosts Briercrest College on Sept. 14.