Bobcat Spikers Open Weindel Era with Win over SIUE

Friday, August 24

Edwardsville, IL

7 p.m.

Montana State University

SIU-Edwardsville

Junior Jennifer Lundquist

Photo by: R. Dean Hendrickson

8/24/2012 8:14:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

The Montana State volleyball team opened the Kyle Weindel era with a 25-17, 21-25, 25-13, 26-24 win over Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, Friday night in the Cougar Classic.

By: Tom Schulz

BOXSCORE: Montana State3, SIU-Edwardsville 1

The Montana State volleyball team opened the Kyle Weindel era with a 25-17, 21-25, 25-13, 26-24 win over Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, Friday night in the Cougar Classic.

Senior Macy Page paced the Bobcats with a match-high 14 kills, while true-freshman Eli Svisco and junior Sarah Horton also reached double-figure kills with 13 and 11, respectively.

“We had a very balanced and very spread attack and received contributions from everyone,” said MSU first-year mentor Kyle Weindel, who earned his first-ever victory as a head coach. “Our passing was steady and we managed their tougher servers. We stayed in system and it was nice to get a win.”

MSU opened the match using a 6-0 run midway through the set to stake a 21-15 advantage. The Bobcats finished off the set on a Page kill. In the second stanza, MSU battled back from an 18-15 deficit to take a 21-20 lead following a Svisco block. However, SIUE answered with five consecutive points to even the match at 1-1.

The Bobcats came out on fire following intermission cruising to an early 9-3 advantage and outscoring the Cougars 16-10 down the stretch.

“We talked at intermission about taking care of what we can control,” Weindel said. “I think we gave them nine points from our errors in the second set, and that's something we can control. We turned it around in the third set and made them (SIUE) work.”

SIUE jumped to a 14-11 lead in the final set, before MSU tied the score at 14-all on a Page block. MSU took the lead as transfer Zoe Gogan entered the rotation and pounded down three consecutive kills to give MSU a 20-17 margin. SIUE evened the set late at 24-all, but the Bobcats recorded back-to-back kills from Page and Horton to earn the win.

“Zoe came in and got us points when needed them,” Weindel said. “Defensively, Nicole (Baker) kept us in a lot of rallies. I was also pleased with our blocking. It's a good night at any level when you average three blocks per set, and that was huge.”

Defensively, the Bobcats were led by libero Nicole Baker with a match-high 22 digs, while Jennifer Lundquist added 18 saves and Horton 10. Lundquist also dished out 44 assists. MSU's two freshmen paced the Bobcats at the net as Svisco and Natalee Godfrey each recorded eight blocks.

For the match, MSU outhit SIUE .197 to .063, while also holding advantages in kills, assists, aces, digs and blocks.

MSU will play Western Illinois and Santa Clara on Saturday.