VALLEY CITY ND – The Valley City State Viking volleyball team opened the season against Dakota Wesleyan on Saturday at W.E. Osmon Fieldhouse and lost a hard fought three-set match by the scores of 28-30, 19-25, 22-25.

In the first set, the Vikings trailed 23-18 but would rally to cut the lead to 23-21. A kill by the Tigers’ Karly VanDerWerff, made the score 24-21 and set point. But the Vikings would battle back and take the next four points. Gracie Schumacher followed up an ace with a kill to tie the set at 24. Then an attack error on the Tigers put the Vikings one point away from taking then first set. The Vikings would have two more chances to take the set but couldn’t close the deal. After a service error by the Tigers’ Elizabeth Tyler made it 28-27 VCSU, Dakota Wesleyan rattled off three straight points, the last two on aces by Presly Pastain, to take the set 30-28.

The second set has six ties early on, but Dakota Wesleyan took control of the set with seven straight points to take a 15-8 lead. Out of the timeout, the Tigers scored two of the next three points to lead 17-9. Valley City State would go on an 8-4 run to cut the lead to 21-17. But that would be as close as the Vikings would get in the s et as Dakota Wesleyan won 25-19.

The third set was another close one. Seven ties the five lead changes in the first 23 points. A kill by Dakota Wesleyan’s Lily Ranschau made it 11-10 Tigers. But Valley City State would go on a 12-6 run to take five-point lead, the largest either team would have in the set. A service ace by Graci Schumacher would make it 22-17 VCSU. But the Tigers roared back, scoring the last eight points of the set to win 25-22.

Macy Fridgen, Ellie Lucas, and Danielle Hagler had seven kills each to pace the Vikings. Morgan Freije, Emma Lucas, and Rosie Anderson had five kills each. Gracie Schumacher had 19 assists and Madden Bogenreif had 14. Defensively, Delani Clarke led the way with 17 digs, JayCee Richter had 16. Freiji had three solo blocks and Hagler added two.

UP NEXT: (RV) VCSU travels to (RV) Morningside University for a Thursday night matchup. First serve is at 6 p.m. in Sioux City, Iowa.