Cats Spike Miners: Complete Team Effort Lifts MSU to Sweep of UTEP

Friday, September 13

Missoula, MT

4 p.m.

Montana State University

3-4

UTEP

4-5

Montana St.

UTEP

Senior Evi Wilson

Photo by: R. Dean Hendrickson

Cats Spike Miners: Complete Team Effort Lifts MSU to Sweep of UTEP

9/13/2019 6:53:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Tom Schulz

Montana State hit a season-high .290 from the field, led by outside hitters Kira Thomsen and Evi Wilson, en route to a 29-27, 25-22, 25-19 sweep of UTEP, Friday evening in its first match of the Montana-Farmers State Bank Invitational in Dahlberg Arena.

Montana State (3-4) jumped out early in the opening stanza taking a 10-3 advantage. UTEP (4-5) battled back and took a 20-18 lead following a Bobcat net violation. The game was tied four times before Montana State fought off a pair of Miner set points in the waning moments. MSU had a pair of set points of their own that UTEP overcame. With the set even at 27-all, MSU received a Thomsen kill and a block by Allie Lynch and Emma Pence for the win.

"I think anytime you can establish authority off the first serve is usually beneficial," said third-year MSU head coach Daniel Jones. "But credit to UTEP, they're a very good volleyball team and came back hard. It was satisfying squeaking that first set out and we were able to carry a little bit of momentum into the second and third set."

After trading points to begin the second frame, MSU took a 3-2 lead and held it for the remainder of the set. A Hannah Scott kill followed by a UTEP service error gave the Bobcats a 24-22 lead. Scott closed out the game on a kill off the top of the block.

In the final set, the Bobcats took control early with its serving game and established its block to pull away from the Miners with a 4-1 run midway through the stanza, highlighted by a Pence block. Scott closed out the match with a kill out of the middle.

"It was really satisfying getting a win in three," Jones said. "It was a great match for our outsides hitting over .390 each and even Hannah (Scott) at .273, is really a satisfying accomplishment for them. A lot of the credit should go to our middles for giving them those opportunities. There was a lot of one-on-ones and one-on-none hits for our pins because the middles were working hard in transition and driving out."

Thomsen paced MSU with her second straight 16-kill match, while hitting .448 from the field and adding seven digs. Wilson finished with ten kills and a .391 attack mark, while Scott posted nine kills and ten digs.

"The big up we have this year is Hannah Scott, who has found her rhythm on the right-side," Jones commented. "She hits a ball that is hard to dig, and then you have Kira and Evi, who similarly hit balls that are very hard to dig, and they've found their rhythm as well.

"It's a serving and passing game and I think particularly at the end of the second set and third set we did a nice job of locating our serves and putting them under a lot of pressure and then our block came into play," Jones added.

For the match, Montana State limited UTEP to a .140 attack mark. MSU held advantages in kills, assists, digs and blocks. Defensively, Allyssa Rizzo registered a match-high 13 digs, while Pence finished with a match-high seven blocks.

"It was a complete effort from start to finish in the sense there was no anxiety," Jones said. "We felt we were in control the majority of the match and that's a great feeling. The girls handled UTEP's runs well and this is what we're wanting- to build layer upon layer and just keep doing it throughout the season to be the best we can be in October and November."

MSU plays CSU Bakersfield on Saturday morning.