Bears Outlast Cats in Slugfest

Monday, November 24

Greeley, CO

7 p.m.

Montana State University

13-15,8-8Big Sky

No. 3 Northern Colorado

15-15,11-5Big Sky

Montana St.

Northern Colo.

11/24/2025 11:07:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

“We left it all out on the court, and that is something we can be proud of,” Houk said. “We gave ourselves a chance and put our best foot forward. Obviously, we’re hurting right now, especially for our seniors (Camryn Greenwald, Gretta Lawson, Lauren Lindseth, Madilyn Siebler), but I give our kids a ton of credit for their fight and resiliency.”

By: Tom Schulz

Montana State and Northern Colorado gave fans a match worthy of a championship fight, but in the end, UNC came out on top by points winning an 18-25, 25-18, 25-23, 23-25, 15-13 decision over the Bobcats in the opening round of the Big Sky Conference Tournament, Monday night in Bank of Colorado Arena.

Montana State finishes its season 13-15 overall, while Northern Colorado improves to 15-15, and advances to Tuesday's semifinal match against Sacramento State.

"I felt every swing had a hard time finding the floor," said MSU head coach Matt Houk. "It was hard to get a kill. Both teams' scouting reports were on point. Each served well and put a lot of pressure on the passers. It was hard for either team to find a good flow with the offense."

MSU took control of the opening set, outhitting the Bears .148 to .032. UNC turned the table in the second frame behind a .429 attack mark to even the contest at 1-1.

Northern Colorado held a 24-21 advantage late in the third set, but the Bobcats fought off two set points to pull to within 24-23. The Bears won the set on a Montana State service error to take a 2-1 advantage.

The Bobcats grabbed momentum going down the stretch in the fourth frame leading by two on multiple occasions. UNC knotted the contest at 23-all, before a Joelie Spelts kill followed by a UNC hitting miscue gave MSU the win to force a fifth and deciding set.

UNC took control of the final set getting out to a 9-5 lead, but the Bobcats fought back rattling off an 8-4 run to even the set at 13-all on a thunderous kill via Karli Heidemann. The Bears closed out the match on back-to-back kills by Isabel Bennett and Alayna Tessena.

"We left it all out on the court, and that is something we can be proud of," Houk said. "We gave ourselves a chance and put our best foot forward. Obviously, we're hurting right now, especially for our seniors (Camryn Greenwald, Gretta Lawson, Lauren Lindseth, Madilyn Siebler), but I give our kids a ton of credit for their fight and resiliency."

Spelts paced MSU with a team-high 14 kills, while adding five blocks. Siebler chipped in 13 kills and 10 digs, while Heidemann added 11 kills and 11 digs.

Defensively, Greenwald guided the Cats with nine blocks. Lindseth finished her final match with 22 digs, giving her 1,987 career saves, which is second best in MSU history and a top five all-time ranking in Big Sky Conference play.

The match lasted two hours, 41 minutes and featured 44 ties and 18 lead changes.