Cats Push Razorbacks to Five Sets

Saturday, August 31

Fayetteville, AR

10 a.m.

Montana State University

1-2

Arkansas

3-0

Montana State

Arkansas

Photo by: R. Dean Hendrickson

8/31/2019 8:03:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Tom Schulz

Montana State got out to start it wanted and had Arkansas on its heels, before the Razorbacks rallied for a 20-25, 28-30, 25-15, 25-18, 15-13 victory over the Bobcats on Saturday morning in Barnhill Arena.

Montana State (1-2), which dropped its second straight five-set match, served notice in the opening set storming out to an early 5-1 advantage as freshman Kira Thomsen posted back-to-back aces. Arkansas (3-0) closed to within 16-15, but the Bobcats responded with four straight points capped by a block via Kelsie White and Hannah Scott. MSU took the first set as Scott recorded a kill off the block.

The second set mirrored the first as MSU jumped out to a five-point lead following an Allie Lynch ace. The Bobcats held the lead until the Razorbacks tied the score at 19-all. The two teams traded points and MSU held five set points before a bad Arkansas set gave the Bobcats a 2-0 advantage.

Arkansas turned the table in sets three and four holding a 33 to 13 advantage in kills, while hitting .313 and holding the Bobcats to just .083.

In the deciding game, Montana State held an 8-6 advantage on a Scott kill. The set was tied four times down the stretch before the Razorbacks took a 13-11 lead. MSU fought back to even the stanza at 13-all on an Evi Wilson kill and an Arkansas hitting error. Two Montana State miscues halted MSU's upset bid at 15-13 against its lone Power Five opponent this season.

"I'm extremely proud of this group," said MSU third-year head coach Daniel Jones. "From the first person to the last person they're invested and committed to what we're doing. They're selfless and it's just such a fun group to coach right now. They have a sense for how good they are, and I think with just a couple of technical and tactical adjustments we'll see how good they can be. We challenged them to really develop a sense of who they can be and to develop that confidence that they can have that killer instinct in those big moments."

Scott paced MSU offensively with a team-high 17 kills, while hitting .406 from the field. Lynch dished out 39 assists and added five digs, four blocks and three aces. Defensively, libero Allyssa Rizzo notched a match-high 26 digs, while freshman Emma Pence guided the Bobcats at the net with a match-best six blocks.

"Anytime we can go out against a big, physical team from the Big 10, the Pac-12, the SEC or whatever Power Five conference it is we feel we can match-up with them pretty well," Jones said. "It's fun to get tested. And, that's why we play this game- to see who we are and to see what we're made of."

Arkansas was led by Jillian Gillen with 26 kills and 13 digs.

For their efforts, Rizzo and Scott were named to the Arkansas Classic all-tournament team.

Montana State plays at the Loyola University Chicago tournament next weekend.