By Mark Potts
Valley City Times-Record

Crucial serving errors ruined Valley City State’s chances in game one against the University of North Dakota, and then essentially killed their chances of an upset.
UND used their momentum from a thrilling game one to sweep the Vikings 28-26, 25-17, 25-21.
The two teams battled back and forth in the crucial game one until UND used six straight points to take a 22-18 lead late in the game. Karissa Fahlman righted the Viking ship though with two booming kills as VCSU tied the game at 23. A serving error by the Vikings gave UND a one point lead but VCSU staved off two game points to take a 26-25 lead in extra points. Serving for game point VCSU couldn’t put the Sioux away as a serving error tied the game and then UND scored two straight points to win game one, 28-26.
“Our last three serves were a serving error, a lollipop or easy serve, and a serving error,” VCSU head coach Craig Case said of game one. “You can’t beat good teams that way. Our servers gotta step up.”
UND carried their momentum over from game one and took advantage of a Viking letdown in jumping out to an 11-3 lead in game two. The Vikings fought back within one at 12-11 but UND closed out the game with a 13-6 run.
The Vikings again started slow in game three, falling behind 5-1, and it would come back to haunt them. They used four aces by Megan Floerke to battle back twice to within one point at 11-10 and 20-19, but couldn’t get over the hump, losing 25-21.
“I think what hurt us the most was how poorly we came out in game three,” Case said. “We didn’t come out with any passion. We didn’t come out with any intensity and we just weren’t ready to with that match coming out in game three.”
Despite some of the mental errors there were bright spots for VCSU as they finally got consistent play from their outside hitters with Sabrina Heywood and Fahlman turning in solid matches. Heywood tied for the team lead with 11 kills each while middle hitter Anna Davidson chipped in eight. For Heywood, it was her most kills all season.
“She played outstanding against Black Hills State on Saturday so we just felt we’ll ride her out again and see how she does,” Case said of Heywood. “And she played well again. I was pleased with how her and Karissa (Fahlman) played. We haven’t had any stability on the outside yet all year, so it’s good to have Sabrina (Heywood) back playing well, because that’s the Sabrina we had last year.”

For full story, see Wednesday's edition of the Valley City Times-Record.