'Rockers douse Comets in four

| Saturday, October 21, 2006

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Special to the Journal

RAPID CITY - The South Dakota School of Mines women's volleyball team got an important Dakota Athletic Conference win Friday night, defeating visiting Mayville State, 3-1, at Goodell Gymnasium in Rapid City.

The Lady Hardrockers defeated the Comets, 34-36, 30-25, 30-27, 30-28.

Play seemed a tad stagnant at times on both sides of the net, but once each game progressed, the intensity level kept building and it made for exciting endings.

"We didn't play as well as I would have liked in the beginning of each game," said Hardrocker head coach Doug Tabbert. "But we did play our best at the end of every game."

Mayville held a commanding edge through most of the first set, but the Lady Hardrockers were able to stay within sight of their opponents and tied things up at the end to put the game into a deadlock.

Each side exchanged points and it took six extra scores before the Comets came out on top.

Game 2 went the other way as Mines jumped out to an early 11-6 edge, but Mayville kept hanging around and made a run down the stretch. But in the end, the Lady Hardrockers took advantage of a couple of Comet miscues to go up 28-25, and then a kill from freshman Katherine Hanson and a service ace from sophomore Stephanie Carpio earned the home team the win and tie of the match.

In Game 3, again it was Mayville that seemed to have control through most of the bout, but the home team came on strong at the end, taking a 29-25 advantage. SDM then won the set when the Comets stumbled on their side of the net, hitting the ball into the net.

The last game saw a few different momentum swings that put Mayville on top down the stretch, 27-26. Rapid City native Jennie Malone made it all square for SDM with a kill, followed by a big score from Agnieszka Koperek (junior transfer) to put the Hardrockers up, 29-28.

The Comets faded on the last volley of the night, committing a side-out to lose the game as well as the match.

"We came back in almost every game. We were trailing (in the games) and we came from behind," Tabbert said. "It's good to play well at the end like that when we have to, but I don't really want us to be in that type of position."

The Hardrockers had a lot of outstanding individual performances in Friday's match.

Koperek notched 20 kills in the game and made good on 30 of 47 attacks. Carpio was 38-46 on the attack with 13 kills and Hanson had 10 kills and was 27-32 on the attack.

Malone had a stellar night at the line with a 22-22 performance with four aces and Carpio racked up an ace while going 17-20 on the serve.

Tessa Howe continues to impress at the setter position, grabbing 57 assists and had 14 digs.

The win gives the Hardrockers a 13-7 overall mark and 4-5 record in the DAC.

Mines will be back in action today in another conference matchup against Valley City State at 3 p.m.

BHSU 3, Valley City St., 1

SPEARFISH - Black Hills State battled Valley City State for a 30-25, 30-24, 27-30, 30-17 DAC win on Friday night.

Alyssa Boeding led the Jackets with 17 kills; Jen Weitzel led the team with 17 digs and Mindi Mayer made 10 kills, one solo block and five assisted.

The Yellow Jackets host conference foe Mayville State University at 3 p.m. today.