Thibeault, Grizzlies put end to streak
10/30/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
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Sophomore Jaimie Thibeault had nine kills on .562 hitting and added four blocks to lead the University of Montana volleyball team to a 3-0 victory over Eastern Washington Thursday night at the West Auxiliary Gym in Missoula, Mont. The victory put an end to the Grizzlies??? 18-match losing streak to the Eagles that dated back to 1999.
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Montana improved to 10-11 overall with the victory and moved alone into fifth place in the Big Sky Conference standings at 6-5.
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Eastern Washington fell to 12-9 overall, 7-4 in league play.
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In other Big Sky matches Thursday night, Portland State won at Montana State, 3-0, and Idaho State defeated Weber State at Pocatello, Idaho, 3-1.
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The Grizzlies will host second-place PSU (15-6, 8-3 BSC) Saturday night at 7 p.m.
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Sophomore Amy Roberts had 11 kills and senior Jade Roskam had her third double-double of the season with 10 kills and 11 digs.
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After allowing Eastern???s Hayley Hills to hit .458 and finish with 28 kills in the Eagles??? 3-1 win at Cheney, Wash., last month, Montana???s blocking and defense limited the Big Sky Conference kills leader to 13 on .143 hitting and held EWU to .104 hitting as a team.
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The opening set was tied at 15-15 when the Grizzlies scored three straight points on a Thibeault kill and two Eastern attack errors. Montana would maintain that lead to a 25-21 victory.
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The Eagles had 11 kills and 11 errors in the opening set to hit .000.
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Montana broke away in a tight second set to take a late 23-20 lead, but the Eagles scored three straight on a Hills kill and back-to-back Grizzly attack errors to tie it at 23-23.
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A Roberts kill made it 24-23 and a kill by freshman middle blocker Brittany Quick, one of her five for the match, made it 25-23.
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Montana jumped out to a quick 7-3 lead in the final set and built a lead as large as seven points at 19-12.
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Eastern would rally back to close to within 20-18, but after a timeout, Thibeault had back-to-back kills to send Montana to the 25-22 win.
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Junior Taryn Wright had 33 assists and two service aces for the Grizzlies. Sophomore Brittney Brown led both teams with 13 digs.
