Bismarck State College Mystics Athletics

MADISON, S.D. -- On their third game in four days, and now reaching 10 sets played in two days, Bismarck State volleyball made noise, but ultimately closed its season-opening Frontier Conference road trip with another hard-fought five-set loss to Dakota State on Saturday, falling 3-2 (25-17, 25-21, 25-13, 20-25, 15-9).

BSC dropped the first two sets before storming back to win sets three and four, forcing a decisive fifth that Dakota State closed out. The loss drops BSC to 2-6 overall and 0-3 in Frontier Conference play, while Dakota State improves to 5-3 overall and 2-0 in league action.

Set One: Early Lead Slips Away

BSC built an early 6-4 lead behind Ashlee Stanger and Reese Duchsherer, but Dakota State answered with a 5-0 run to seize control at 9-6 and never trailed again, closing out the opener 25-17.

Set Two: Mystics Battle, Can't Close

BSC held several leads throughout the set -- including 13-11, 16-15 and a tie at 18-18 -- but Dakota State scored the final five points of the match to escape with a 25-21 win.

Mystics Rally in Sets Three and Four

BSC flipped the match in set three behind one of its best stretches of the season: after Dakota State tied the set at 8-8, the Mystics reeled off nine straight points to take a commanding 17-8 lead they never relinquished, hitting .391 as a team en route to a lopsided 25-13 win.

Shayna Roach served three aces during that run alone, going back-to-back at 14-7 and 15-7 before closing it out with a third at 17-7 -- a stretch that forced a Dakota State timeout and buried the Trojans in a hole they couldn't climb out of.

The Mystics carried that momentum into set four, out-hitting the Trojans .306 to .229 to even the match at two sets apiece with a 25-20 win.

Set Five: Trojans Pull Away Late

BSC jumped out to a 2-0 lead behind Duchsherer and stayed even with Dakota State through a 6-6 tie, but the Trojans closed the match on a 9-2 run from there, finishing off the win 15-9.

Mystics Key Performers

• Ashlee Stanger and Reese Duchsherer each finished with 13 kills and a team-high 15.0 points; Stanger hit .357, while Duchsherer added 10 digs
• McKenna Brendel added 10 kills on .214 hitting for 12.0 points in four sets of action
• Ellie Baumstarck was efficient in four sets, hitting .400 with six kills for 8.0 points
• Jordyn Rood chipped in six kills on .333 hitting for 7.5 points
• Aislyn Hogan ran the offense with 44 assists to go with four digs
• Piper Harris paced the defense with 21 digs
• Shayna Roach tallied four service aces to go with 10 digs

Game Notes

• BSC out-aced Dakota State 6-2 as a team despite the loss
• The Mystics' 2-6 start includes two five-set losses in as many days -- as many as BSC had in all of last season combined

BSC continues Frontier Conference play next weekend with another road trip, facing (RV) Montana Tech on Friday at 7 p.m. at Kelvin Sampson Court in Butte, Mont., before closing at Montana Western on Saturday at 11 a.m. CT (10 a.m. MT) at Straugh Gymnasium in Dillon, Mont. Montana Tech finished this weekend 7-1 overall and 2-0 in conference play after sweeping both Mayville State and Valley City State on the road. Montana Western is 3-6 overall but also 2-0 in Frontier play, having knocked off both Valley City State and Mayville State on the road, with each match going the full five sets.

See the volleyball schedule for more information.