Cats Come Up Short Against Pilots

Saturday, September 12

Bozeman, MT

11:00 am MT

Montana State University

5-3,0-0Big Sky

Portland

4-2,0-0WCC

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Portland	24	25	25	25	3
Montana St.	26	15	20	23	1

Photo by: Bobcat Creative Services

9/12/2026 2:40:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: Kate Cooney

Bozeman, Mont. – The Montana State Volleyball team fell short of a win on the final day of the Bobcat Invitational on Saturday, with a 3-1 loss to Portland. After Thursday night's five-set fight, the Bobcats (5-3) could not muster the energy to defeat the Pilots (4-2).

"I don't think we followed up our performance from the other night with the same kind of energy, and I don't think we deserved to win the match today," head coach Matt Houk said. "I think Portland deserved to win that match."

Battling through a tight first set, the Bobcats came out ahead with a 26-24 win. Their only victory of the day, the first set was the most productive for MSU, who hit .390 with 19 kills.

The early lead was not enough for Houk's team, as Portland took the second handily at 25-15. The Cats rallied back, improving the score to 20-25 in the third, but the Pilots still came out ahead. The fourth and final set marked an improvement for the Bobcats, pushing within two points, but Portland claimed the win at 25-23.

"I'm hoping that our athletes can find the lessons that are important in a match like today, that you've got to come out and value every point that's available to you. I don't think we had a high enough value on the points today."

Lauren Greeny and Joelie Spelts led the Cats with 12 kills apiece, while Greeny added 16 digs for her third double-double this season. Greeny posted the Bobcats' best numbers for the tournament as well, with 26 kills while hitting .317. Teagan Jaynes and Karli Heidemann also reached double-figure digs with 10 each.

Montana State, North Dakota State, and Portland all came away with a win after three days of action in Bozeman. Each school had a pair of selections to the all-tournament team:

Lauren Greeny (Montana State)
Joelie Spelts (Montana State)
Arianna Blohm (North Dakota State)
Emma Tallman (North Dakota State)
Havannah Hoeft (Portland)
Taina Kaauwai (Portland)

The Bobcats return to the court Sept. 17 for the final tournament of the non-conference slate at Mercer University. Montana State will open with the tournament hosts on Thursday, face Charleston Southern on Friday, and Georgia State on Saturday. Home action will resume on Oct. 1, with single-game and season tickets available now.

"We played really good volleyball at times this season, but we're still quite inconsistent," Houk said. "Even within a match, we have one good set and then an average set. I hope this team can start deciding to lock on to the things that make them good and have those be an all-the-time thing, not just a sometimes thing. That's a little bit of who we are right now, but that doesn't have to be who we're going to be this season."

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