Cats Fall in Four

Tuesday, October 29

BOZEMAN

7 p.m.

Montana State University

10-10, 6-5Big Sky

Montana

4-18, 3-8Big Sky

Montana

Montana State

Senior Evi Wilson finds a hole in the Grizzly block for a kill, Tuesday night.

Photo by: Andrew Pedersen

10/29/2019 10:23:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Montana State’s middle blocking duo of Kelsie White and Emma Pence also gave the Bobcats offensive production combining for 15 kills, while hitting .371 from the field. The tandem also chipped in 13 blocks.

By: Tom Schulz

BOZEMAN, Mont. – Montana used a strong service game and out-hit Montana State .178 to .163, en route to a 25-21, 10-25, 25-20, 25-18 win over the Bobcats on Tuesday night in front of 1,357 fans in Shroyer Gym.

Montana (4-18, 3-8) trailed 10-8 in the opening set but rattled off a 6-1 run to take a 14-11 advantage following a Montana State (10-10, 6-5) hitting error. The Grizzlies held the margin and won the game on another MSU hitting miscue.

The Bobcats quickly turned the table in the second set storming out to a commanding 18-3 lead and cruised to the victory out-hitting Montana .233 to -.176.

But as quickly as Montana State righted the ship, UM flipped the scene in sets three and four behind an insistent effort from the service line. The Grizzlies pulled away from a 16-15 lead in the third frame with a 4-0 run and won the set on a kill via Amethyst Harper.

UM jumped out to a 15-6 lead in the final set and cruised to the win on an Elsa Goodwin kill.

The victory by Montana avenged its straight set loss to the Bobcats on Sept. 24 in Missoula.

"So often in these games it's won in the serve and pass battle," said MSU head coach Daniel Jones. "In that second set we jumped all over them with the serve and they were way off the net and couldn't do anything. And, our big block came into play. In the other three sets they did a really good job being super aggressive from the service line and we could not find a pass. We got really timid in the passing line and weren't able to run any kind of offense behind that. Kudos to them."

Senior Evi Wilson provided a spark for the Bobcats with a team-high 15 kills. Wilson missed MSU's last match against Sacramento State battling an illness. Montana State's middle blocking duo of Kelsie White and Emma Pence also gave the Bobcats offensive production combining for 15 kills, while hitting .371 from the field. The tandem also chipped in 13 blocks.

Defensively, Allyssa Rizzo led three Bobcats in double-digit digs with a match-high 24 saves, while Kira Thomsen added 12 and Allie Lynch 11.

"We didn't do it on our side," Jones said. "It wasn't just one kid; it was a combination of everybody just kind of getting under pressure and not being able to do their jobs."

Harper paced Montana with 21 kills and eight digs.

Montana State hosts Big Sky-leading Northern Colorado on Thursday night in Shroyer Gym.