MINOT --- The South Dakota School of Mines women's volleyball team ran into to some solid competition Saturday on the second and final day of the Minot State University Volleyball Classic in Minot, N.D., as the Lady Hardrockers fell to both MSU Billings (Mont.) and MSU-Moorhead (Minn.).

In the first match of the day, MSU Billings upended the Hardrockers, 3-0. The Yellowjackets defeated SD Mines, 25-20, 25-23, 25-16.

The Lady 'Rockers finished the match going 93-111 on the attack and tallied 32 kills, 29 assists, 45 digs, six aces and eight total blocks. MSU Billings closed out the contest with 40 kills and was 92-111 on the attack to go along with their 39 assists, 51 digs and six total blocks.

Individually for SD Mines, junior Justine Langus paced her team going 19-22 on the attack and recorded eight kills while senior Mikkella Reese notched seven kills and was 23-27 on that attack. Sophomore Allie Boggs contributed with 13 assists and came up with 13 digs.

In the final match, MSU-Moorhead topped the Hardrockers, 3-0. The Lady Dragons defeated SD Mines, 25-10, 25-22, 25-21.

The 'Rockers ended the match with 30 kills and was 92-116 on the attack and tacked on 30 assists, 66 digs and recorded six blocks. The Dragons were 112-124 on the attack with 37 kills, 31 assists, 54 digs and eight blocks.

Individually for the Hardrockers, sophomore Caryn Hazzard tallied eight kills and was 21-29 on the attack while Reese, junior Anna Breidt and junior Darla Drenkhahn all contributed with five kills. Freshman Emma Eckel led the team with 20 assists while junior Alye Wagner came up with 18 digs.

"We did some experimenting with our lineup in the second match, and I was really impressed with freshmen setter Emma Eckel today," said SD Mines women's volleyball head coach Jenni Bolduc. "She came in off the bench and ran a 5-1 in the second and third sets against Minnesota State -Moorhead and did a great job. Eckel is a pretty physical setter and can do some damage at the net both offensively and defensively.  

"It was good to see her work with our hitters and put us in a better place to get our slide hitters going - which you can see in  Anna Breidt hitting .364 for us in that match. It's nice to have options to work with, and we have a fair amount of depth on our bench right now to pull from.

Serving was a bright spot for the Hardrockers and Bolduc was pleased with how her team is progressing and causing fits for the opposition.
 
"Defensively Allie Brown is doing a nice job coming in and serving tough then playing solid defense," the coach said. "Overall I was happy with our serving. I think we did a good job of getting other teams out of system, which makes our job on defense much easier." 
 
With the tournament over, the Hardrockers are 0-4 on the season and will next head to Aberdeen, S.D., this weekend for a tournament at Northern State University.