How Sweep It Is: Cats Cruise by Griz in Three

Tuesday, September 24

Missoula, MT

7 p.m.

Montana State University

5-5

Montana

1-10

Montana St.

Montana

Junior Kelsie White

Photo by: UM Sports Information

9/24/2019 8:53:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Tom Schulz

Montana State senior Evi Wilson made the most of her last appearance in Dahlberg Arena recording a match-high 13 kills to guide the Bobcats to a 25-21, 25-13, 25-18 win over Montana on Tuesday night in front of 907 spectators.

Wilson, a product of Vancouver, Wash., set the tone early and the rest of the Bobcats followed. Montana State (5-5, 1-0) had three players with a .400 attack mark or better. Wilson finished hitting .429 from the field, while Kelsie White led all players with a .667 attack mark on eight kills and Hannah Scott posted .438 from the floor to go with her seven kills. Freshman Kira Thomsen added nine kills to round out MSU's efficient offensive performance.

"Evi is super competitive and our life-blood in a lot of ways," said MSU head coach Daniel Jones. "She really wanted to go out on a high note in Dahlberg (Arena).

"Kelsie has made some technical adjustments that are really paying off and we're seeing the fruits of it," Jones said. "And, Hannah continues to find her rhythm on the rightside and is really stepping up and doing a fantastic job."

For the match, MSU out-hit Montana (1-11, 0-1) .362 to .182.

"Allie (Lynch) did a really fine job running the offense and executing the game plan," Jones said. "She put our hitters into a position to be successful."

Lynch dished out 33 assists, while Allyssa Rizzo paced MSU defensively with a match-best 16 digs.

Montana State showed no signs of taking a week off of action jumping out to a 9-4 lead in the opening set on a Wilson kill. UM settled down and evened the game at 12-all and took a 16-14 advantage following the media timeout. With the Grizzlies up 18-16, the Bobcats went on a 3-1 run to even the frame at 19-all. MSU received three consecutive kills from Wilson to give it the cushion it needed winning the set on a Scott kill. Rizzo led MSU in the backrow with eight digs.

Tied at six-all in the second stanza the Bobcats rattled off a 7-1 run behind the serving of Lynch. MSU cruised to a 2-0 advantage at intermission outhitting the Grizzlies .478 to .074.

Montana State kept the momentum in the final set taking a 15-10 lead following a Montana hitting error. The Grizzlies made one last surge to pull to within 15-14, but the Bobcats answered with a 4-0 run capped by a Thomsen service ace. Thomsen put the exclamation on her first Cat-Griz experience with the match winning kill.

"We worked hard on not giving up big runs," Jones said. "We took a timeout at 15-14 and talked about executing on our side and they did a really nice job."

Montana was led by Amethyst Harper with nine kills.

"Cat-Griz is always a special match and to be able to come away with a 3-0 win in Missoula is very satisfying," Jones added.

Montana State travels to Northern Colorado on Saturday.