Bobcats Drop Opening Matches at Ramblers Challenge

Friday, September 6

Chicago, IL

9 a.m.

Montana State University

1-3

Western Michigan

4-0

Montana State

Western Michigan

Photo by: R. Dean Hendrickson

9/6/2019 8:57:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Results (vs. Western Michigan)Results (vs. Loyola)

The Montana State volleyball team started strong in both of its matches on Friday, Sept.6, but was defeated in two contests at the Hampton Inn Ramblers Challenge on the campus of Loyola Chicago

By: Andrew Pedersen

CHICAGO – The Montana State volleyball team started strong in both of its matches on Friday, Sept.6, but was defeated in two contests at the Hampton Inn Ramblers Challenge on the campus of Loyola Chicago. The Bobcats began the day falling to Western Michigan (23-25, 25-10, 25-16, 25-17) and lost to host Loyola (28-26, 25-20, 25-21) to close out the night in Gentile Arena.

Montana State jumped out to a seven point lead in its first set against Western Michigan and never trailed as the Bobcats won it, 25-23, to take a 1-0 advantage. The Broncos found their rhythm in the second set and continued their solid play the rest of the way.

"I think we come out with a sense of confidence and that we can compete with anybody," Montana State head coach Daniel Jones said. "We serve aggressively, and in the first set, we've done a really good job of putting pressure on these other teams."

After being held to just a .133 hitting percentage in the opening set, Western Michigan improved their offensive output to .229 in the second set. WMU eventually hit over .340 in each of the next two sets to complete a four-set victory over MSU.

Hannah Scott hit .345 for the Bobcats and finished with a team-high 12 kills. Emma Pence and Kelsie White had four blocks apiece, while Pence was .462 on the attack. Allie Lynch registered 36 assists and 10 digs and Allyssa Rizzo recorded a team-high 26 digs.

The Bobcats and Ramblers went back and forth throughout the first set in Friday's finale. The largest lead the entire set was by 2, which Montana State had twice, but eventually pushed to 26-all. A Loyola kill and MSU attack error gave the Ramblers the opening frame.

Loyola took the opening lead the next two sets and wouldn't squander it by taking the second set, 25-20, and the third, 25-23. While the Bobcats held the Ramblers' offense to hitting below .300 in the final two sets, the MSU attack went .062 and .143 in the second and third sets, respectively.

"In both matches the opponent was able to get on top of us in the serve-receive battle," Jones said. "I just felt like we were playing a lot of balls either on the tape or 15-feet off the tape. To run an effective offense, we need to be in the sweet spot within the 10-foot line.

"Life gets difficult when you can't pass, but this is part of the evolution for our program. We need to be able to be put under pressure, step up, breathe and be able to fight back. The challenge is to learn lessons from the painful losses. We'll go back to the drawing board tomorrow and continue to try to learn and grow."

Scott led the Bobcat offense with 11 kills in the defeat to Loyola. White finished with a team-high 4 blocks, Lynch picked up 27 assists and Rizzo tallied 15 digs.

Montana State returns to action in Chicago on Saturday when the Bobcats face Loyola Maryland. First serve is scheduled for 11 a.m. MST.

"I think Loyola Maryland presents another great challenge for us," Jones said. "They've got some dynamic outsides, but they've got some defensive things that could play to our advantage. It's up to us to control our side of the net and control the things we know how to do to put pressure on them. As we start to do that, good things will start to happen for us."