Cats Complete Grizzly Sweep

Friday, November 22

BOZEMAN

7 p.m.

Montana State University

9-18,7-9Big Sky

Montana

10-17,5-11Big Sky

Montana

Montana St.

Camryn Greenwald and Jourdain Kamps (9) deny a Montana attack on Friday night in Worthington Arena.

Photo by: Bobcat Creative Services

11/22/2024 10:41:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

The win secured Montana State’s seventh straight Big Sky Conference Tournament berth and ended Montana’s season.

By: Tom Schulz

Matt Houk's message was clear as his team entered its biggest match of the season against rival Montana, Friday night.

"Play aggressive volleyball," said Houk, Montana State's second-year head coach. "That's a thing that's been up and down for us. We talked a lot about it this week, we didn't skirt around the elephant in the room. We talked about what was on the line and the things we needed to be good at, and we needed to play an assertive style of volleyball."

Behind its senior duo of Jourdain Kamps and Jordan Radick, who combined for 18 kills, a .326 attack mark and 12 blocks, Montana State cruised to a season sweep of Montana, 25-17, 25-21, 25-23, in front of 3,567 fans in Worthington Arena.

The win secured Montana State's seventh straight Big Sky Conference Tournament berth and ended Montana's season.

"We wanted the first swing," Houk said. "It was nice to go out and win the first point. We wanted to apply some early pressure. We wanted to set the tone. I thought we did a great job from the service line and were able to knock them out of system."

Montana State (9-18, 7-9) built an early 9-5 lead in the opening frame on a block by Kamps and Radick. Montana (10-17, 5-11) got no closer than three points the rest of the way as Courtney Weatherby's kill gave MSU the win.

Sophomore Joelie Spelts sparked MSU in the opening set with four kills and a .444 attack mark.

The Grizzlies held an early advantage in set two before the Bobcats evened the contest at 14-all. MSU then rattled off three unanswered points and never relinquished its lead as Madilyn Siebler's kill gave the Bobcats a 2-0 cushion at the break.

The final set featured seven ties and three lead changes. Trailing 12-10 at the midway mark the Bobcats went on a 4-0 run taking a 14-12 lead following an attack error by Sierra Dennison. MSU built its margin to 20-14 following a Weatherby block, but the Grizzlies had one last push behind a 9-3 run. Following a Bobcat time out at 23-all, MSU used a kill by Siebler and a UM hitting error to complete the season sweep.

"It feels good to get the win in front of a great crowd," Houk. "The atmosphere was outstanding.

"What we got to do now is try to catch that wave and keep with it," he added. "We're not going to have 3,500 people in Sacramento cheering for us so we're going to have to create our own energy."

Kamps finished with a team-high 10 kills, while adding a match-best seven blocks. Radick added eight kills and five blocks. Defensively, the Bobcats had three players in double-digit digs led by Siebler with 15. Weatherby and Lauren Lindseth added 12 and ten saves, respectively.

MSU awaits its first-round opponent at next week's Big Sky Tournament as the league's regular season concludes on Saturday with a full slate of matches.