NORTH SIOUX CITY, S.D. – All the parts of the machine were working together as the Briar Cliff University volleyball team (5-5) closed out the Siouxland Volleyball Invitational, Saturday at CNOS Fieldhouse. The Chargers had a perfect day beating Dickinson State (3-5) and Cottey (2-6).
Dickinson State – W, 3-1 (26-24, 13-25, 25-18, 26-24)
In the first set, Dickinson State started quick with an 8-3 lead. Briar Cliff began to slowly chip away.
Sophomore Aliyah Basham smashed down a perfect set from senior Olivia Corey. That pulled the Chargers to one, 15-14.
The Blue Hawks scored three straight to make it 18-14. BCU refused to quit reeling off a 10-8 run to go up 24-23.
DSU took the next point to tie it up. Briar Cliff forced an error and got a block from freshman Aubrey Hoeft and senior Taryn Nothem to close it out.
The second set went back-and-forth early on. Basham found the back corner to cut the gap to 15-13. Dickinson State then shut down the Chargers to tie the match at 1-1.
In the third set, BCU stormed out to an 11-6 lead. The Blue Hawks came firing back with an 8-4 burst to make it 15-14. Briar Cliff forced an error to start a run of five straight points to seal the set.
The fourth set was a barnburner the whole way. The Chargers fought back from the corner, down 24-22. Junior Isabelle Lenz made a nice kill off the block to start a streak of four straight kills to end the match.
For Briar Cliff, Basham had 12 kills and sophomore Emma Brenelli had 10 kills. Junior Avery Beller had 20 digs (her third straight at 20+) while Corey and senior Anesa Davenport had 11 apiece. The Chargers had 19 total blocks led by senior Kiersten Baker with five.
For Dickinson State, McKenzie Moser had 13 kills while Aubrey Allison and Rylee Kogolshak collected 15 digs each.
Briar Cliff Head Coach Lindsey Weatherford
“Dickinson State is a much-improved team from past years. I was proud of how we came out together and won the opening set. Aliyah (Basham) really stepped up today and was a terminator for us in this match. Emma (Brenelli) and Kiersten (Baker) actively looked for opportunities to score and terminated at a high rate after being put in multiple excellent positions. This was due to the efforts of Olivia (Corey) who has really started the season strong. Avery (Beller) continues to be consistent for our back row defense.”
Cottey – W, 3-0 (25-18, 25-22, 26-24)
In the first set, Cottey and Briar Cliff slugged it out until 7-7. After that, the Chargers went up by three points three times before the Comets made runs.
At 15-13, Baker blasted the ball down the middle. That started a 6-1 run that effectively ended the set.
In the second set, BCU scored the first four points and a 10-5 lead. Cottey came back with a 7-3 burst to make it 13-12.
It was Briar Cliff’s turn to surge. Lenz found the back corner to put the Chargers in control at 20-13.
The Comets were not going down without a fight. A kill ended a 9-3 run to make it 23-22. BCU forced two errors to end the set.
In the third set, Briar Cliff took an early 4-2 lead. Cottey used a 10-3 burst to go up 12-7.
Behind the serving of sophomore Valeria Viroomal, the Chargers forged ahead 15-13. From there it was back-and-forth action.
The Comets managed a kill to take the lead 24-23. Sophomore Reese Strouth blasted the ball down the line to start a run of three straight points to end the match.
For Briar Cliff, it was a balanced offense with seven players having between three and six kills. Defensively, Beller had 14 digs and senior Baylee Greene had 12 digs.
For Cottey, Kailee Hooper had 14 digs.
Weatherford
“It was our goal as a team to be able to come out and win consecutive sets against Cottey. Kiersten put us in an excellent position to do so by hitting a .545 over the first two sets. In addition, she put up a strong block to set the tone for the match. After set one, we were able to give some reserve players valuable playing time. This led to strong efforts from Val (Viroomal) and Reese (Strouth). Baylee (Greene) dug balls consistently alongside Avery in our back row defense. Our blocking is getting stronger every match. The ability to efficiently put a team away in three sets is valuable experience for the rest of the season.”
Briar Cliff starts the GPAC season on the road, taking on #2 Northwestern (Iowa). The match is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m.
