RAPID CITY - The South Dakota School of Mines' weekend volleyball drought continued Saturday at Goodell Gymnasium with a four-game Dakota Athletic Conference loss at the hands of Minot State, 21-25, 31-29, 26-24 and 25-18.

"I can't even remember the last time we won a Saturday match," Mines head coach Beth Honaker said. "I asked the girls, too and they don't remember either. It seems like we always come out and play hard and well on Friday and then they just decide to show up on Saturday. In this conference you just can't do that. I'm really frustrated right now."

The Hardrockers came out and grabbed the first game 25-21 behind some strong early play from Sturgis' Amanda Cammack, who was the

only player that Honaker felt was ready to go from the beginning of the match.

"Amanda Cammack showed up wanting to play," Honaker said. "She was ready to play, she had a lot of blocks and she had a lot of good swings for us. Unfortunately, we didn't pass well enough to get her the ball."

After winning the first game, the Hardrockers looked to have the second game under control when Katherine Hanson put a ball away to make it 24-22 in Mines' favor. But the Beavers bounced back and rallied to a 31-29 win that seemed to shift the momentum to the visitors, although neither coach saw it that way, exactly.

"It took us a while to get going," Minot State head coach Johnna Lewis said. "I didn't really think that we started playing like we wanted to win until the last seven points of that second game. It's like pulling teeth sometimes."

The Beavers used the momentum of the second game to grab a close win in the third, 26-24, before easily taking the fourth game, 25-18.

Ashley Kauffman led Mines with 13 kills and Hanson added 10. Cammack had seven kills, two solo blocks and four assisted blocks. Jenny Hiykel had 26 digs for Mines. The Hardrockers (11-11 overall and 3-6 in the DAC) will play Jamestown College and Valley City State next weekend.

"We need to find that player that will step up and put her neck on the line when things aren't going our way," Honaker said. "We had that player last year, but we're still looking for her this year. Maybe we just don't have that kind of player on the team this season, I don't know. This team has high goals, big dreams, but they won't mean anything unless somebody can step up and fill that role."

Suzy Paridine paced the Beavers with 14 kills and four assisted blocks. Nicole Koropas added 13 kills and 14 digs. Minot State (10-11, 5-4) will play Dakota State and Mayville State next weekend.

BHSU defeats Dickinson in four games: The Black Hills State Yellow Jackets remained unbeaten in DAC play with a 16-25, 25-15, 25-8, 25-18 victory over Dickinson State on Saturday at the Young Center in Spearfish.

Kristin Engle (15 kills) and Maggie O'Neill (11) combined for 26 of Black Hills' 40 kills and Engle added two solo blocks and five assisted.

Black Hills (17-5 overall and 9-0 conference) took a game to shake the cobwebs out, but rolled through the final three games to get the win.

The Yellow Jackets will play at Valley City State and Jamestown next weekend.

Dickinson State dropped to 4-16 overall and 3-6 in the DAC with the loss.