VALLEY CITY, N.D. (VCSUVikings.com) – Valley City State hosted their first conference matches of the season Friday and Saturday. Nationally ranked Viterbo University kept their record perfect with a 3 set win Friday. The no 2 team in The NAIA won by scores of 19-25,13-25,19-25. Saturday The Vikings had a straight set win of their own 25-20,25-23,25-19 against Waldorf. Now at 8-8 and 2-3 in The NSAA VCSU travels to Mayville on Wednesday.
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Viterbo 3 VCSU 0 (19-25,13-25,19-25)
Maya Roberts had 12 kills and Viterbo University hit .326 as the No. 2-ranked V-Hawks swept Valley City State University in North Star Athletic Association volleyball action Friday night.
The V-Hawks improved to 16-0 overall and 4-0 in conference play after the 25-19, 25-13, 25-19 victory. Valley City State drops to 7-8 overall and 1-3 in conference play. The Vikings will try to get back in the win column Saturday when they host Waldorf University at 3 p.m.
Clarissa Olson led the Viking attack with seven kills and a .545 hitting percentage. Megan Johnson added five kills and Rowan Garcia led VCSU with 11 assists. Garcia and Leah Ruter each had two aces, and Haile Wilds posted eight digs in the match.
Viterbo outhit the Vikings .326 to .036. The V-Hawks, ranked No. 2 in the country, were at their best in game two with 18 kills and a .467 hitting percentage.
Roberts’ 12 kills paced the Viterbo attack, while Miah Garant tallied 11 kills and Natalie Geidel added nine. Setter Amelia Grahn had a big match with 33 assists, five kills and eight digs. Rachel Frankowski and Baylee Gross each had 11 digs in the win.
Saturday: VCSU 3 Waldorf Univeristy 0 (25-20,25-23,25-19)
The Valley City State volleyball team moved back to .500 on the season with a sweep of Waldorf University on Saturday.
The Vikings improved to 8-8 with the victory, sweeping the Warriors by scores of 25-20, 25-23 and 25-19. Valley City State is now 2-3 in conference play. Waldorf drops to 3-17 overall and 0-5 in the NSAA.
Clarissa Olson led the Viking attack with 14 kills and just one error, hitting for a .542 percentage. It was part of a strong hitting performance by the Vikings, who out-hit the Warriors .288 to .178.
The Vikings never trailed in set one. After Waldorf pulled to within 16-15 the Vikings created some separation with three straight points, getting back-to-back kills by freshman Paige Benson and another kill by Autumn Johnson to take a 19-15 lead. The Warriors would get no closer than three points the rest of the set.
In set two, the Warriors took an early 11-8 lead before VCSU scored five straight points, including two aces by Leah Ruter and two kills by Olson. Waldorf battled back and took a 20-18 lead on kills by Kaitlyn Monck and Kyra Platzek. The Vikings would make the last run though, scoring six of the next eight points to take a 24-22 lead en route to the 25-23 victory.
Set three belonged to the Vikings from the start at they led 3-0, 11-4 and 21-11 before Waldorf made a late rally. The Warriors got to within 24-19 before Benson downed match point with her 12th kill of the day.
Benson’s 12 kills set a new career-high in a three set match as the freshman hit .360 in the win. Rowan Garcia and Leah Ruter each had 17 assists, and Ruter added three aces and a team high nine digs. Charlotte Huschka tallied eight digs. The Vikings had six team blocks, led by four assists from freshman McKinley Putnam.
Kaitlyn Monck led Waldorf with 15 kills. Kyra Platzek added 10 kills for the Warriors and Elisabeth Tramm had 29 assists.