SPEARFISH - Black Hills State maintained its hold on second place in the Dakota Athletic Conference volleyball standings, sweeping Dakota State 30-18, 33-31, 30-13 on Friday evening at the Young Center.

BHSU improved to 9-2 in the DAC and 20-3 overall. The 20 wins equaled last season's win output.

"We're pleased with the 20 wins," said BHSU head coach Jhett Albers. "That was one of our goals at the start of the season."

Coach Albers was asked if he was concerned Friday's match might be a "sandwich match," between a loss to NAIA sixth-rated National American University on Tuesday and a key home contest with Jamestown College today.

"There are no easy wins in our conference," he answered. "We came out with good intensity, but things came too easy for us.

"In Game 2, we were doing uncharacteristic of us. You should not have to wait until you're five or six points down to start playing with intensity. I had a talk with our players. They picked it up after that."

Mandy Brumfield converted 22-of-24 serves with a trio of aces. The Dickinson, N.D., frosh dished out 39 set assists. Chelsey Mort was a perfect 9-of-9 with an ace.

Kristin Engle, a sophomore from Newcastle, Wyo., pounded 12 kills and added nine assisted and one solo block. Carly Benz recorded 10 kills. Carina Sweet provided three assisted blocks and 16 digs. Jennifer Weitzel chipped in 19 digs.

"For us, it was a lot of the same things as all year long," said Dakota State coach Cynthia Henning. "In the first and third games, we dug ourselves a hole. We were inconsistent in the second game.

"Engle got on a roll (in attacks). Sweet also swung big at us.

"Black Hills shut down our hitters."

Jenna Kostelecky connected on a pair of ace serves, while Amy Fenegar added an ace.

Krista Klemm led the Lady T's with 20 set assists. Kelsey Paulson and Rachael Jensen had seven and six kills, respectively. Ashley Schulte had five assisted and one solo block. Margie Anthony collected one solo and three assisted blocks. Laura Lanoue notched 26 digs.

Dakota State, starting four freshmen and one sophomore, dropped to 1-10 in the DAC. The Lady T's visit South Dakota School of Mines today, while BHSU hosts Jamestown College.

The match with the Jimmies is a crucial one. The second place finisher in the DAC during the final regular season conference standings receives a first-round bye in the DAC tournament.

"We lost to Jamestown up there," said coach Albers. "We felt we've been a better team since then. Other than our two losses to nationally ranked teams (NAU, Dickinson State), Jamestown is our only other loss."