Bobcat Spikers Fall to Northern Arizona in Five

Saturday, November 10

Bozeman

7 p.m.

Montana State University

Northern Arizona

Photo by: R. Dean Hendrickson

11/10/2012 10:35:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Montana State’s comeback attempt on Senior Night fell two points short as Northern Arizona escaped with a 25-23, 25-15, 13-25, 19-25, 19-17 win over the Bobcats, Saturday night in Shroyer Gym.

By: Tom Schulz

Montana State's comeback attempt on Senior Night fell two points short as Northern Arizona escaped with a 25-23, 25-15, 13-25, 19-25, 19-17 win over the Bobcats, Saturday night in Shroyer Gym.

After a lackluster first two sets for Montana State (14-12, 8-10), which saw Northern Arizona (22-5, 14-4) out-hit the Bobcats .313 to .140, MSU came out of intermission on fire.

The Bobcats broke away from an 11-9 advantage with an 11-3 run and closed out the third stanza on a NAU hitting error. For the set, Montana State hit a whopping .533 from the field, collecting 17 kills, while committing just one error. MSU held the momentum in the fourth set taking a 15-9 lead following a Sarah Horton kill. The Bobcats held the cushion and evened the match at two-all on a Macy Page kill.

“I really liked the way we started each set,” said MSU head coach Kyle Weindel. “The problem in the first two sets is that we were unable to sustain the level of play for the duration of the set.

“In the third and fourth sets, I thought we served aggressively, did a nice job with our blocking and dug a lot of balls,” Weindel said. “We were playing at a high level against one of the top teams in the Big Sky.”

The final set featured 13 ties and four lead changes. The Lumberjacks used a three-point run at 11-all to take a 14-11 margin, but the Bobcats fended-off three match points via a NAU hitting miscue and two Horton kills. NAU had three additional match points and again MSU answered with a kill from Horton, followed by two winners from Eli Svisco.
At 17-17, the Lumberjacks got a kill from Jen Wilson, before winning the match on a Montana State hitting error.

“It was a tough match to lose,” Weindel said. “I'm proud of our kids for coming back from the loss to Southern Utah and giving Northern Arizona all they could handle.”

Horton recorded a match-high 25 kills, while Page added 16 and Svisco and Taylar Barney 10. Senior setter Jennifer Lundquist dished out 64 assists. Defensively, Nicole Baker recorded 16 digs, while Horton 15, Kasey Schlatter 14 and Svisco 13 also hit double-digits. MSU was led at the net by Natalee Godfrey with six blocks.

For the match, Montana State out-hit Northern Arizona .220 to .212, and also held advantages in kills and assists.

NAU was led by Janae Vander Ploeg with 14 kills and nine digs.

MSU will close out its regular-season next week at Sacramento State and Montana.