From Valley City State Athletics (Picture from Clara Wielund)
VALLEY CITY, ND (vcsuvikings.com) – The VCSU volleyball team won a three-set match over Concordia College Thursday night in front of a full crowd at its own Graichen Gym, 25-17, 30-28 and 25-23.
Bailey Nelson, Morgan Nelson and Danielle Hagler each tallied double figure kills en route to the victory in straight sets. It’s the second straight 3-0 match for VCSU after defeating Dickinson State on Wednesday night.
VCSU improves to 6-7 on the season and holds a 1-0 conference record. Concordia falls to 2-6 overall.
Brigitte Greywater expressed the pride in her team, “We needed to learn how to be relentless and tonight we proved we’re doing it. If we are down by one and its game point, we are coming back and getting after it.”
“The players handled the pressure, and our leaders and captains really controlled the floor. We proved to be relentless with our attitude and never gave up tonight,” she added.
VCSU erased a 7-2 deficit early in the first set and stormed back with seven of the final eight points to win 25-17.
The second set saw 21 ties and went down to the wire as the Vikings tallied 21 kills in the set. The Cobbers totaled four set-point opportunities, but VCSU followed through on its second set-point chance en route to a 30-28 victory.
Neither team led by more than three points the whole third set, while VCSU tallied 15 kills to Concordia’s 14. Despite eight attack errors by the Vikings, a Bailey Nelson kill set up match point. Then, Danielle Hagler and Morgan Freije combined for a final block to finish the sweep over the Cobbers with a 25-23 third set.
Bailey Nelson tied a season-high 17 kills Thursday to lead VCSU. Danielle Hagler added 11 kills and Morgan Nelson chipped in 10. Hagler set a new career-high with six assisted blocks at the net.
Sadie Hansen finished with 38 set assists while JayCee Richter totaled 16 digs and three of VCSU’s six service aces Thursday. Delani Clarke added 12 digs for VCSU’s defense in the match.
Concordia’s Anna Brakke and Kendra Wiggs each posted 10 kills in the match Thursday. Chloe Markovic led all players with 19 digs and Kaia Lill finished with 34 assists for the Cobbers.
UP NEXT: VCSU resumes conference play next weekend at Waldorf University on Friday, Sept. 23, . First serve is slated for 7 p.m. in Forest City, Iowa.