Montana
Seton Hall
Sister act: Seton Hall sweeps past Montana
9/12/2014 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Box Score
Stacey Manthorpe had 11 kills and 16 digs and her sister Shelbey finished with 33 assists to lead Seton Hall to a 25-13, 25-15, 25-18 victory over Montana Friday afternoon at the West Virginia Mountaineer Invitational at Morgantown, W.V.The Grizzlies (0-8) opened the tournament with a 3-1 loss to Saint Francis Friday morning. The Pirates (6-2), who were playing their first match of the tournament, won for the sixth time in their last seven matches.
Seton Hall was in control from start to finish. After breaking away from a 3-3 tie with four straight points early in the first set, the Pirates never trailed again in the match.
Seton Hall hit .368 and had 17 more kills and 15 more digs than the Grizzlies. It was the fourth time in eight matches this season that Montana has allowed its opponent to hit better than .300. The Grizzlies hit a season-low .087.
"The effort is there, but these opponents are really good, and we're still showing signs that we haven't come together completely," said UM coach Jerry Wagner. "We got off course in this match as far as playing good offense."
Sophomore Michelle Robinson had 13 kills on .269 hitting and a team-high 10 digs, and sophomore Claire McCown had four kills on .200 hitting, but the two right- and left-side hitters received little offensive support from their teammates, who combined for 10 kills on negative hitting.
Montana's middle blockers combined for just two kills, and the team's two blocks were the lowest for the program since a loss at North Dakota in early September 2011.
Wagner started senior Kelsey Schile, but freshman Jace Henderson came off the bench and did most of the setting. She finished with a season-high 16 assists.
"It didn't matter who we had in there at setter today. We were just too inconsistent. It didn't reflect the way we were passing the ball," he said.
Danielle Schroeder joined the Manthorpe sisters to lead Seton Hall, which hit .324 or better all three sets, including .412 in the final frame. Schroeder had 12 kills on .579 hitting, and Amanda Hansen added seven kills on .545 hitting with three blocks.
Friday's losses came after a long, difficult day of travel on Thursday for the Grizzlies. The team left for the Missoula airport at 5:30 a.m. and, because of fog in Denver, had to be rerouted from its original travel itinerary. Montana arrived in Morgantown at 12:30 a.m. (ET), 17 hours later.
"I think we're all looking forward to a good, relaxing dinner tonight and a full night's rest. Then we'll come out tomorrow and give it our best effort," said Wagner.
Montana will face Kent State at noon (MT) and West Virginia at 5 p.m. (MT) on Saturday.
