Cats Drop Five-Set Decision

Saturday, August 27

BOZEMAN

1 p.m.

Montana State University

0-3,0-0Big Sky

St. Thomas

1-2,0-0Summit League

St. Thomas (MN)

Montana St.

Photo by: Bobcat Creative Services

8/27/2022 5:39:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Tom Schulz

St. Thomas fought off five match points, while Montana State fended off one, before the Tommies closed out the contest on a kill from Emma Goerger followed by a Goerger and Claire Ricard block to escape with a 28-26, 22-25, 25-23, 19-25, 20-18 decision over the MSU on Saturday afternoon to close out the Bobcats Classic.

In a match that went 2-hours, 47-minutes and featured 49 ties and 18 lead changes, St. Thomas used a 64-57 advantage in kills to push it over the top.

Montana State (0-3), who dropped all three matches at the Bobcat Classic by 3-2 outcomes, held a 22-18 lead late in the opening set. St. Thomas (1-2) rattled off four unanswered points to even the frame at 22-all. The set was tied four times down the stretch before the Tommies used an Ellie Dammann kill and a MSU hitting miscue to take a 1-0 lead.

MSU held an early 8-4 lead in the second frame, but the Tommies knotted the stanza at 10-all. The teams traded points midway through the game before the Bobcats received a kill by Kaycee O'Dell and two St. Thomas hitting errors to take a three-point advantage. MSU closed out the set on another hitting miscue by the Tommies.

Neither team held more than a two-point lead in the third set before Montana State used a 3-0 run to take a 23-20 margin on an Emma Pence kill. Once again, St. Thomas responded with a 5-0 run to take the set on a kill via Libby Mattila.

The most lopsided set came in the fourth frame despite both teams struggling offensively. Trailing 14-9, the Bobcats used a 12-1 run to take a 21-15 lead following a kill by freshman Camryn Greenwald. St. Thomas would get no closer than three points as MSU forced a fifth set behind another St. Thomas attack error. For the set, Montana State outhit the Tommies .034 to -.049.

St. Thomas jumped out to an early 6-1 advantage in the fifth set before MSU went on a 7-2 run to even the contest at 8-all. The Bobcats built its largest lead at 13-11 following a Courtney Weatherby kill and held two match points after Greenwald's kill at 14-12. St. Thomas held off five match points, the last coming at 17-16 on a hitting error. The Tommies turned the table taking an 18-17 on a kill by Tezra Rudzitis. A St. Thomas service error evened the set at 18-all and that's when Goerger went into action for the final two points to give the Tommies its first win of the season.

MSU was led by Weatherby with a career-high 20 kills, while Pence 13 and Greenwald 11 also hit double-digits. Defensively, the Bobcats were paced by Shayla Webber and Lauren Lindseth with 18 digs, apiece, while Maci Abshier added 15 and Weatherby 12. O'Dell finished with a team-high six blocks.

San Francisco captured the Bobcats Classic title with a 3-1 win over Grand Canyon on Saturday morning. USF's Maria Petkova was named the tournament MVP, while Abby Wadas, USF, Klaire Mitchell, GCU, Megan Taflinger, GCU, Goerger, St. Thomas, and Weatherby, MSU were named to the all-tournament team.

Montana State plays at the Bryant Tournament next weekend in Smithfield, R.I. The Cats will face Boston College, Harvard and the host Bulldogs.