Box Score 1 | Box Score 2  MINOT, N.D. - The Minot State University volleyball split matches on day one of the Black Hills State University Tournament in Spearfish, S.D. on Friday night.

In the first match, the Beavers defeated Chadron State College in 4 sets 25-17, 25-14, 22-25, 25-18.

"We just played our game against Chadron," said head coach Travis Ward. "We played through ourselves and we played as a team. When you do those things it makes it much easier to be successful."

Freshman Mallory Sall (OH, Port Coquitlam, British Columbia) led the Beavers with 23 kills in the match, while senior Shari Hewson (MH, New England, N.D.) notched 13 kills.

"Mallory did a good job swinging for us today," said Ward. "She cut down on her errors and it showed."

Freshman Ashley Heavenor (L, Cochrane, Alberta) and sophomore Emily Byrne (S, Reno, Nev.) led the team with 15 digs each.

In the second match of the day, Minot State was up and down, as they lost to Black Hills State University in five sets 13-25, 25-23, 21-25, 26-24, 9-15.

"We were not consistent against BHSU," said Ward. "We had a good effort, but far too many errors. We showed that we could be a competitive team when we cut down on our errors and that is what we will try to do going forward."

Sall led the team in kills again, totaling 15 in the second match of the day. Samantha Ziola-Vega (Fr., OH, Palos Heights, Ill.) also had a solid game with 14 kills in the loss.

The Beavers (3-4 overall) will play two games on Saturday as they face Briar Cliff Univeristy at 11 a.m. (MT) and Colorado Christian University at 3 p.m. (MT).