Bismarck State volleyball is headed to the Frontier Conference Tournament. The Mystics beat Mayville State 3-1 (25-21, 21-25, 25-17, 25-23) on Senior Day Saturday afternoon at the Bavendick Center, a win BSC Athletics said locks up the first Frontier Conference Tournament berth in program history.
The Frontier Conference's official standings now mark Bismarck State with an "x" for a clinched tournament spot. According to BSC Athletics, the Mystics have secured at least the seventh seed and can climb as high as sixth with two wins next weekend.
The victory, which came a day after BSC's 3-1 home win over Valley City State, completed a sweep of the weekend's home series and improved the Mystics to 12-13 overall and 10-10 in Frontier play, per the official box score. Mayville State fell to 2-23 and 2-18. The teams split the season series; the Comets won the first meeting 3-1 on Oct. 2 in Mayville.
How it went
In the opener, Aislyn Hogan served five points of a six-point run that turned a 12-12 tie into an 18-12 lead. Mayville State answered in set two behind a six-point run, five of them on Danica Hanson's serve, and held on 25-21.
Reese Duchsherer flipped the third set with four straight points on her serve, three of them aces, and BSC pulled away 25-17. In the fourth, the Mystics trailed 17-14 before Brooklyn Sand served seven points of an eight-point run. The Comets closed to 23-22, but a Jordyn Rood kill and a Duchsherer kill finished it 25-23.
McKenna Brendel led BSC with 15 kills on .300 hitting, per the box score. Duchsherer added 11 kills, four aces and 18 digs, and Ellie Baumstarck hit .412 with eight kills and four blocks. Rood and Ashlee Stanger had seven kills apiece. Aspen Roaldson (21 assists) and Hogan (20 assists) split setting duties, and senior Piper Harris led the defense with 23 digs.
Bismarck State hit .178 as a team to Mayville State's .118 and won the ace (8-6) and block (7-5) battles. The match featured 20 ties and eight lead changes, according to the BSC recap. Andrea Majchrzak led the Comets with 16 kills, and Lexi Hoeft added 14. The box score lists attendance at 909.
Senior Day
Before the match, BSC honored seniors Shayna Roach, Paige McAllister and Piper Harris in their final home match. "[The Frontier tournament] is what we've been working towards all season," Roach said in the BSC recap. "We talk about it every single day, and now that it's finally here, we are so pumped to show up and show people what we're made of."
The standings and what's next
In the Frontier Conference standings, Bismarck State sits seventh at 10-10, behind Bellevue (18-2), Montana Tech (15-5), Dakota State (14-6), Providence (13-7), Montana Western (13-7) and Carroll (12-8). Dickinson State is eighth at 7-13. All seven teams ahead of the Mystics are also marked as having clinched.
BSC closes the regular season in Montana: at Carroll on Thursday, Nov. 5, at 7 p.m. Central in Helena, then at Rocky Mountain on Friday, Nov. 6, at 7 p.m. Central in Billings. The Mystics beat Carroll 3-0 and Rocky Mountain 3-1 at home earlier this season.
The eight-team Frontier Conference Tournament opens with quarterfinals Thursday, Nov. 12, in Helena, followed by semifinals Nov. 13 and the championship match Nov. 14, according to the BSC schedule. If the standings hold, BSC Athletics said, the Mystics would face No. 2 seed Montana Tech in the quarterfinals. Match times have not been announced.
