Balanced Attack Helps Cats Down Redhawks in Four

Thursday, September 7

BOZEMAN

7 p.m.

Montana State University

6-1,0-0Big Sky

Seattle U

3-4,0-0WAC

Seattle U

Montana St.

Sophomore Madilyn Siebler digs up one of her eight saves against Seattle U on Thursday night.

Photo by: Bobcat Creative Services

9/7/2023 10:18:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

“I don’t think we played poorly in the first half of the fourth,” Houk said. “We had a few untimely errors right before the media timeout, but the second half of that set we were really steady and all of a sudden we picked the lock on blocking.”

By: Tom Schulz

Montana State had four players in double-figure kills led by Kira Thomsen and Jourdain Kamps with 14 apiece, en route to a 26-24, 25-19, 18-25, 25-18 win over Seattle U on Thursday night in Shroyer Gym.

Montana State (6-1) got out to an early 7-2 lead in the opening set and held the margin until Seattle U (3-4) took its first advantage at 23-22 following a Merima Smajlovic service ace. After a MSU timeout, the Bobcats scored two unanswered points. The Redhawks evened the contest at 24-all before back-to-back kills by Thomsen and Kamps gave MSU the victory.

"We got the win," said MSU head coach Matt Houk. "We got the most important thing done. We're getting good practice being in close sets, right now. If nothing else, you're hoping there's a little comfort level being in close sets. If there is one thing about this team, it's that there is no panic. We might get a little inconsistent at times, but we don't panic in tight moments."

Behind a strong service game, MSU owned the second stanza building an 18-13 cushion and cruising down the stretch as sophomore middle blocker Camryn Greenwald closed out the frame with three consecutive kills.

"Tonight, was one of our best nights from the service line," Houk said. "We only had three errors, which is our lowest total of the season. And, we had more aces than errors. We've been trying to solidify that we're going to be a tough serving team and to do that you have to live with a little bit of error."

Montana State's one stumble of the match came in the third set as the Redhawks outhit the Bobcats .303 to .083 as MSU committed eight errors on 36 swings.

"We were our own worse enemy," Houk stated. "Which maybe the theme of the sets that we lose. You need to make the other team beat you, we didn't earn a whole lot and gave them runs of points. Good teams learn how to get out of their own way. "

MSU saw the fog dissipate from the Shroyer Gym hardwood in the second half of the final frame. Trailing 15-14 at the media timeout, the Bobcats came out of the huddle on a 9-1 run and motored to their sixth win of the season.

"I don't think we played poorly in the first half of the fourth," Houk said. "We had a few untimely errors right before the media timeout, but the second half of that set we were really steady and all of a sudden we picked the lock on blocking."

Montana State out-blocked Seattle U 4-0 in the fourth set.

Aside from Thomsen and Kamps' offensive output, the Bobcats received 10 kills apiece from Greenwald and Madilyn Siebler. Setter Nellie Stevenson dished out 46 assists and added five kills.

Defensively, MSU was led by Lauren Lindseth with a match-high 20 digs, while Jordan Radick paced the Bobcats at the net with five blocks.

Montana State plays Seattle U for the second time on Friday afternoon at 1 p.m. in Shroyer Gym.