Fighting Hawks Hold Off Cats

Saturday, October 29

BOZEMAN

7 p.m.

Montana State University

5-16, 3-9

North Dakota

19-9, 10-2

North Dakota

Montana State

A Bobcat celebration

Photo by: Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez

10/29/2016 10:18:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Tom Schulz

League-leading North Dakota held off a late Montana State rally in the opening set and kept the momentum the rest of the match en route to a 25-22, 25-18, 25-17 win over the Bobcats, Saturday night in Shroyer Gym.

North Dakota (19-9, 10-2) cruised to an early 19-10 advantage in the opening set. Trailing 22-15 in the later stages of the stanza, Montana State (5-16, 3-9) rattled off seven straight points causing UND to burn both time-outs. MSU eventually tied the game at 22-all, before the Fighting Hawks scored the final three points to fend-off the Cats. The Montana State rally was sparked by Kiana Black who registered two kills and three blocks.

"We tried to switch some things up in the first set to get a different look and throw them off but unfortunately we were not able to execute well enough," said MSU second-year head coach JJ Riley.

The final two sets belonged to UND as the Hawks out-hit MSU .278 to .123 and a strong North Dakota serving match thwarted any Bobcat rally.

"The whole night we just didn't execute things defensively that we were supposed, too," Riley said. "Against a very good team like UND we needed to be right on point with our responsibilities. We will keep working hard and be ready to play against Sacramento State."

Black led the Bobcats with a team-high ten kills, while hitting .625 from the floor. In addition, the junior from Wenatchee, Washington posted a match-best seven blocks. Sophomore Chase Doughty came off the bench for the Bocbats and added seven kills, a .250 attack mark, three digs and two blocks.

Freshman libero Allyssa Rizzo posted a team-high 12 digs.

"I thought Kiana did a great job for us and so did Chase coming in off the bench providing a big spark plug offensively and getting some blocks," Riley commented.

North Dakota was paced by Chelsea Moser with 11 kills and three blocks.

The Bobcats will host Sacramento State, Thursday, Nov. 3 at 7:30 p.m. in the last home match of the season which will honor seniors Alexandra Rader, Eli Svisco and Dana Vestman.