Montana
Kent State
Montana plays well, still falls in five to Kent State
9/13/2014 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Box Score
The Montana volleyball team played its best match of the tournament, but the Grizzlies still came up short in a 3-2 loss to Kent State Saturday afternoon at the Mountaineer Invitational in Morgantown, W.V.
The Golden Flashes (7-2) rallied from a 2-1 deficit to post a 26-28, 26-24, 20-25, 25-19, 15-13 victory over Montana (0-9), which is still seeking its first victory of the season.
The Grizzlies opened the tournament Friday with a 3-1 loss to Saint Francis and a 3-0 loss to Seton Hall.
"This was really encouraging," said UM coach Jerry Wagner. "It was a really good sign that we played as well as we did today against a team I thought was as good or better than the two teams we played yesterday."
For the third time this season Montana was one set away from its first victory. Six-point runs at critical times late in the match helped Kent State keep the Grizzlies searching.
With the Grizzlies leading 2-1 and the fourth set tied at 19-19, the Golden Flashes reeled off six straight points to force a fifth set, the third five-set match of the year for Montana.
Kills by sophomore Michelle Robinson and freshman Janell Sparks put the Grizzlies up 2-0 in the fifth set, but six straight points, four coming on Montana errors, gave Kent State a lead it would hold the rest of the way.
The Grizzlies fought back and closed their deficit to 13-12 and 14-13, but Lauren Engleman, who had a match-high 16 kills, put down her final swing for the match's decisive point.
They were the only big runs of the match for Kent State.
"We didn't give up the big runs today, and we stayed in points longer, two things we weren't doing at all yesterday," said Wagner.
"I thought we played better offense than the numbers show, which was encouraging, and we were making a lot better decisions."
Robinson had 14 kills on .333 hitting with six blocks on the right side. Sparks and sophomore Claire McCown were not as effective on the left. They took 91 swings and put down just 15 of them for kills, a big reason Kent State had a 96-75 advantage in digs.
Montana had the better blocking numbers -- redshirt junior Capri Richardson's career-high-matching 10 blocks helped the Grizzlies to a 15-6 advantage -- but KSU's 13 more kills proved to be the difference in a match the Golden Flashes scored just three more points than the Grizzlies.
Senior Kelsey Schile had 28 assists, 7 digs, 6 kills on .333 hitting and 4 blocks as Wagner went to a 5-1 system the final four sets. Freshman Taylor Schile had 21 digs, her third time reaching 20 over the Grizzlies' last five matches.
Montana will face host West Virginia Saturday night in the tournament's final match. The Mountaineers (9-1) have won nine straight and have dropped just two sets during their winning streak.
