The Valley City State University Vikings held on for a crucial five-set victory over Montana State University Northern, keeping their hopes of qualifying for the upcoming Frontier Conference tournament alive.

The match started promisingly for VCSU, as Eden Carrier, Madysen Geist and Madden Bogenreif helped lead the Vikings to a comfortable 25-17 first-set win. Serving played a major role, with Valley City State recording five aces in the opening set and finishing with 10 for the match.

The Vikings continued to build momentum in the second set, using strong play from freshman Kadie Kocka and sophomore Molly Bjorneby to establish a 23-13 advantage. However, the Skylights responded with an 8-1 run to cut the deficit to 24-21. VCSU caught a fortunate break on set point when Reece Cave’s hit clipped the net, rolled over and dropped just inside the MSU Northern side to give the Vikings a 2-0 lead.

Valley City State appeared poised to finish the match in three sets but could not close out the third. The Skylights rallied to win the set 25-23, scoring the final four points, before controlling the fourth set for a 25-18 victory to force a decisive fifth set.

The Vikings built an 8-4 lead in the fifth, but MSU Northern fought back and eventually moved ahead 14-11. Facing elimination, VCSU responded with three consecutive points. Carrier delivered a kill, Gracie Schumacher followed with a service ace, and Carrier added another kill to tie the set at 14-14.

Carrier came through again with the Vikings facing another match point at 15-14, keeping VCSU alive. The teams continued trading points before Geist’s kill gave Valley City State a 20-19 advantage. Kocka then ended the match with a kill off an assist from Bogenreif.

Defensively, Annika Pulju led the Vikings with 27 digs, while Bjorneby added 20 and Cave finished with 12. Valley City State totaled 128 digs in the match. Kocka, Cave and Bogenreif each recorded two service aces.