MINOT, N.D.  – The Minot State University volleyball team didn't have quite enough in their final two matches of the Montana State University-Billing invitational Saturday afternoon. The Beavers dropped both of their matches in five sets against MSU-Billings and the University of Mary.

After jumping out to an early 2-0 lead in the first match against MSU-Billings, the Yellow Jackets proved to be too much for the Beavers in the following three sets. Monica Grimsrud's 17 kills paced MSU-Billings as they went on to complete their comeback victory winning the final three sets by the scores of 25-21, 25-15 and 15-8.

The Beavers 32 attack errors, 12 more than the Yellow Jackets, came back to haunt them in the end after starting out the first set of the afternoon with .273 hitting percentage.

Defensively, the Beavers received a top performance from junior Cindy Pelo (L, Idaho Falls, Idaho) who collected 19 digs for the Beavers. Jen Dixon (Sr., OH, Brandon, Manitoba) and Mallory Sall (Jr., OH, Port Coquitlam, British Columbia) each recorded 18 digs as well.

Dixon and Sall led the way in the kills category with Dixon picking up 13 and Sall recording 14. Taylor Butters (So., OH, Spokane Valley, Wash.) was credited with 12, respectively.

The second game of the afternoon proved to be a similar outcome for the Beavers as they dropped another close match against the University of Mary. The Beavers went down 2-0 early and fought back to force a fifth set, but the Marauders outlasted the Beavers hanging on to win 15-12 in the final set.

Tarah Dabovich (Jr., MH, Phoenix, Ariz.) had her best performance of the weekend while leading the Beavers in the kills category. She tallied 16, respectively, and also added a couple of digs to her stat-line.

Dixon and Sall once again came in with the second and third-most kills in the contest, recording 13 and 14.

"We earned a lot about ourselves this weekend that we can take into practice this week," head coach Travis Ward said. "It's tough to go down early in games and come back."

The Beavers will hit the road again next weekend when they travel to the Northern State Invitational. Their first match is set for 10 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 12.