SIOUX CITY IA – The Valley City State University Vikings opened play at the Siouxland Invitational against #13 Oklahoma Wesleyan. After dropping the first set, Oklahoma Wesleyan bounced back to take the next three. The Eagles won the match 22-25, 25-20, 25-20, 25-20.

The Vikings are now 1-2 on the season. Oklahoma Wesleyan is 1-0.

In the opening set, the Eagles scored the first three points of the set. Valley City would go on a 5-1 run to take the lead. A kill Macy Fridgen gave the Vikings a 5-4 lead. The two teams would go back and forth for the next several points with ties at 5, 6, 9, and 10. A kill by the Eagles Tijana Stojiljkovic made the score 10-0 Eagles. The Vikings would go on an 8-2 run to take the lead back. A kill by Morgan Freije would start the run and tie the set at 10-10. The run was ended by Fridgen’s third kill of the set to make the score 17-12 Vikings. Oklahoma Wesleyan would go on a 8-3 run, including four points in a row, to tie the set at 20-20. A kill by Emma Lucas would give the Vikings the lead back for good and start them on a 5-2 set ending run. Fridgen’s fourth kill of the set ended the run and gave the Vikings a 25-22 win.

The Vikings got off to a great start in the second set, taking a four-point lead early on. A service ace by Maden Bogenreif gave Valley City State a 5-1 lead. Oklahoma Wesley would take control of the set with a 15-5 run. A kill by Evelyn Rohrberg gave the Eagles a 16-10 lead. That six-point lead was the biggest of the set for OWU. The closest Valley City State would get the rest of the way was three points when an attack error by the Eagles Tijana Stojiljkovic made it 23-20-. But back-to-back kills by Rohrberg ended the set with Oklahoma Wesleyan taking the set 25-20.

The Eagles got off to a good start in the third set, taking the first four points. An attack error by the Vikings’ Morgan Freije made it 4-0 Eagles. The two teams would go back-and-forth over the next several points with neither team able to take control of the set. The biggest lead for Oklahoma Wesleyan was five points, which they achieved twice at 12-7 and 13-8. Valley City State used a 9-4 run to tie the set. A kill by Ellie Lucas tied the set at 17-17/. She had another kill two points later to tied it at 18-18. The Eagles, however, would close out the set with a 7-2 run tun. A kill by Stojiljkovic started a three-point run for Dakotas Wesleyan. An attack error by the Vikings’ Ellie Lucas made it 21-18 Eagles. After a kill by Ellie Lucas and a block by Freije and Emma Lucas pulled the Vikings to within 21-20, Oklahoma Wesleyan would score the last four points of the set to win. A kill by Evelyn Rohrberg made the final 25-20.

Valley City State scored first in the fourth set off an attack error by Oklahoma Wesleyan’s Evelyn Rohrberg. That would be the only time the Vikings would have the lead in the set. The Eagles would go on an 8-1 run to take a six-point lead. The Vikings would come back with a 6-1 run to cut the lead to one. A bad set by Sydney Collins of OWU made the score 9-8 Eagles. The teams would alternate the next two points to keep a one-point set at 10-9. A 4-0 run by the Eagles made it 14-9. A kill by Macy Fridgen pulled the Vikings to within two at 14-12, but that was a close as they would get the rest of the way. The biggest lead the Eagles would have would be six points when the score was 22-16. A service error by the Vikings’ Anna Pulju ended the set with Oklahoma Wesleyan coming out on top 25-20.

Macy Fridgen led the way offensively for the Vikings with 15 kills and a .268 percentage. Ellie Lucas had eleven kills and a 333 hitting percentage. Danielle Hagler had seven kills and a team best 353 hitting percentage while Morgan Freije and Emma Lucas had six kills each. Gracie Schumacher had 24 assists and Madden Bogenreif had 20. Defensively, JayCee Richter had 17 digs and Schumacher added twelve for the double-double. Hagler had six total blocks (1 solo, 5 assisted). Freije and Rosie Anderson each had four assisted blocks. And Richter added three service aces.

UP NEXT: The Vikings continue play at the Siouxland Invitational with a match against #7 Northwestern (IA) College Friday night at 7:00 p.m in North Sioux City, Iowa.