BELLEVUE, Neb. -- The 20th-ranked Bellevue University volleyball team squandered a 2-0 lead and a match point in the fourth set as Dakota State upset the Bruins 3-2 (25-27, 20-25, 25-22, 26-24, 17-15) Tuesday night in North Star Athletic Association action at the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center.
Win the loss, the Bruins fell to 15-6 on the season and 6-2 in the NSAA. DSU improved to 11-9 overall and 4-4 in league play.
Sierra Athen led four Bruins in double figures with 16 kills and 11 digs for her team-leading 10th double-double of the season. Shayla Scanlan hit .344 with 15 kills to go along with five blocks. Coree Lipovsky and Andrea Carson each pocketed 12 kills for the BU offense.
Olivia Galas registered 54 assists, eight digs, four kills and three blocks.
Reahgan Stueve anchored the BU defense with career-high 27 digs.
Sami Zell (17) and Maddie Polzin (16) combined for 33 kills to pace the Trojan offense, while Barbara Briceno registered a double-double with 11 kills and 28 digs.
The tightly-contested first set featured 18 ties before Bruins ended the set on a kill by Galas and a block by Scanlan and Coree Lipovsky on Zell to squeeze out the 27-25 win.
The Bruins led from start to finish in the second frame and got five kills each from Carson and Scanlan to cruise to the 25-20 win, taking a 2-0 lead in the match.
BU committed eight attack errors in third and Zell hit .429 with seven kills on 14 swings as DSU cut the deficit to 2-1 with the 25-22 win.
The Bruins held match point in the fourth set at 24-23 before an attack error by Scanlan tied the set at 24-24. The Trojans evened the match after a kill by Gabby Herlyn and a hitting error by Rosa Reed-Bouley gave the Trojans the 26-24 win.
Neither team led by more than two points in the deciding fifth set which featured nine ties and three lead changes. With the Bruins leading 12-10, a kill by Herlyn, a block by Polzin and Kaylee Spreier, and a ball-handling error by Galas gave DSU a 13-12 advantage. The two teams traded the next five points before a kill by Spreier and a service ace by Spreier gave DSU the match, 17-15.
The Bruins will travel to Des Moines, Iowa this Friday, Oct. 12 to compete in the Grand View Tournament. BU will take on Trinity Christian College at 1 p.m. and Our Lady of the Lake University at 5 p.m.
