Cats Overcome Slow Start, Take Down Lumberjacks in Four

Thursday, October 5

Flagstaff, AZ

7:30 p.m. (MT)

Montana State University

10-4,3-1Big Sky

Northern Arizona

4-11,1-3Big Sky

Montana St.

Northern Ariz.

Kira Thomsen

Photo by: R. Dean Hendrickson

10/5/2023 10:49:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Tom Schulz

Montana State overcame a slow opening set behind the stellar efforts of Kira Thomsen and Jourdain Kamps, en route to a 19-25, 25-21, 25-19, 25-22 win over Northern Arizona on Thursday night in the Rolle Activity Center.

Montana State (10-4, 3-1) showed signs of a Missoula hangover in the opening set as the Lumberjacks pulled away at the midway mark on an 8-3 run. NAU outhit MSU .389 to .200 to capture the six-point win.

"We talked between sets one and two that one set doesn't win or lose a match," said MSU head coach Matt Houk. "We gave them a couple of key things to focus on, and we greenlighted them on our serve. We were willing to take a few misses to knock them out of system."

The Bobcats jumped out to a 17-11 lead in the second frame before Northern Arizona (4-11, 1-3) took advantage of five unanswered points, pulling to within one point. At 19-18, MSU rattled off a 4-1 run taking a 23-19 cushion following a Kamps kill. A NAU ball-handling error closed out the set.

Montana State outhit Northern Arizona .159 to .068 in the second set and held a 3-0 advantage in blocks.

"When you're hitting a good serve and knock them out of some things you can start to key into certain areas like blocking and defense," Houk said. "It's all connected."

MSU used a 5-0 run midway through the third set as a Nellie Stevenson service ace gave the Cats a 14-11 advantage. Montana State expanded its lead to 22-14 on a Courtney Weatherby kill and closed out the stanza in a kill via Emma Pence. Kamps paced the Bobcats with six kills in the set.

"Something we really believe in is our depth," Houk said. "We talk a lot about having people that can come in and do a job if someone else is having an off night. I thought both Courtney and Emma gave us a much-needed lift. And they had some timely kills."

The final set featured 17 ties and ten lead changes. Even at 22-all, a Thomsen kill gave the Bobcats a one-point advantage. Northern Arizona called timeout to slow down the MSU momentum.

"Everyone came into timeout focused on the moment," Houk said. "We knew it wasn't over and that we needed to make plays."

Out of the timeout, Weatherby served her second ace of the match before Thomsen put an exclamation point on the match with her 24^th kill. Thomsen posted eleven kills, while Kamps chipped in six in the fourth set.

"There was nothing easy about the match," Houk commented. "NAU's outsides were assertive, and we had to deal with a team that really battled."

Thomsen, a senior from Parker, Colo., went over the 20-kill plateau for the first time in over a month. She also finished with a .305 attack mark and added 10 digs. Thomsen moved into third on MSU's all-time kills chart with 1,340.

Kamps registered a season-high 18 kills, a .429 attack mark, 14 digs and a team-best six blocks.

"Kira and Jourdain took on a big offensive load," Houk said. "They showed a lot of maturity and scored in a lot of different ways."

Stevenson dished out 38 assists and added two aces and 15 digs, while Lauren Lindseth and Weatherby finished with 17 and 14 saves, respectively. Pence, who has been sidelined with injury, played in four of five sets, and recorded four kills, a .375 attack mark and four blocks.

MSU plays at Northern Colorado on Saturday at 6 p.m.