Despite cruising in the second set, the University of Northern Colorado fell to South Dakota on the road Saturday night.
UNC (4-4) lost to USD (8-1) in five sets (21-25, 25-14, 25-23, 19-25, 11-15) at the South Dakota Classic.
The Bears didn’t have a bad game, per se, the Coyotes were just better. South Dakota logged 69 kills on a .359 hitting percentage and knocked down an alarming 18 blocks.
UNC had 68 kills on a .277 attack percentage — typically a sufficient success rate — and eight blocks.
South Dakota started the game with a strong first set, hitting 50% and picking up a couple of service aces.
It was Northern Colorado’s turn in the second set to hit lights out. It hit .586 versus USD’s .250. The Bears finished with 17 kills, no attack errors, two aces, two blocks and one service error.
That power, unfortunately, did not continue through the remainder of the match. UNC narrowly won the third period behind a few additional kills, before falling behind in the last two.
The Bears finished with 11 attack errors and four service errors between the final two sets.
Overall, it was a game of runs, and USD recorded several at the right times. The Coyotes started set three on a 10-3 run, but the Bears were able to come back.
Then, South Dakota had multiple stretches in the fourth when it scored four straight points or it allowed just one Bears point during a successful offensive span. Finally, the home team ended the match with a 6-3 run.
Graduate hitter Kailey Jo Ince did her best to propel her squad to the win. She finished with a match-leading 24 kills and topped the team with 16 digs.
Senior hitters Rachel Hickman and Makenzie Harris added 15 and 19 kills, respectively.
South Dakota, however, had two players above 20 kills each and three others that neared double digits. Two Coyotes combined for 11 blocks, as well.
UNC will try to get back in the win column next week. It returns to action at 6 p.m. Thursday when it hosts Tarleton State.
