Montana
Ball State
Ball State outlasts Montana, wins 3-2 in Laramie
9/5/2014 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Box Score
The Montana volleyball team jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on Ball State Friday morning in the opening match of the Wyoming Cowgirl Classic in Laramie, but the Cardinals rallied to claim a 23-25, 18-25, 25-19, 25-22, 15-12 victory over the Grizzlies.
The loss keeps Montana (0-4), which plays South Alabama Friday at 5 p.m., seeking its first victory of the season. Ball State improved to 3-1.
Sophomore Michelle Robinson led Montana with a career-high 16 kills on .282 hitting, and the Grizzlies outhit the Cardinals .219 to .195 and also had better blocking numbers.
"This was a step in the right direction and gives us something to build off of," said UM coach Jerry Wagner.
"There is no question we all want to win, but it's a process. We did a good job of focusing on the things that are going to allow us to be successful down the road."
Montana's improved hitting performance, both in percentage and in balance, was the result of better back-row play than the Grizzlies had last weekend while going 0-3 at the Montana Invitational.
Taylor Schile, who had a team-high 11 digs, Sadie Ahearn and Brielle Rolle, plus Robinson, passed balls that allowed setters Kelsey Schile and Raegan Lindsey to better run the team's offense.
"Passing was an area we were really focused on," said Wagner. "Brielle, Taylor and Sadie all passed a lion's share of the balls today, and that looks like it's going to be a crew that can handle the ball at a pretty high level.
"That resulted in a consistent hitting effort each set. We created more situations for hitters to compete against a blocking situation that allowed us to take a lot better swings."
Claire McCown had 12 kills on .300 hitting, and Capri Richardson, who had six blocks, and Tess Hellerud both added seven kills.
Lindsey had 20 assists while setting out of the back row, Schile had 19 assists and a match-high seven blocks setting in the front.
Montana used a pair of late Ball State errors to take the first set 25-23, and the Grizzlies hit .304 to take the second set 25-18.
The Cardinals were their own worst enemy through the opening two sets. They finished with just two more kills (21) than attack errors (19) and hit .035.
Ball State cleaned up its attack, and that allowed the Cardinals to come all the way back and claim the victory. BSU had 37 kills and just 13 attack errors the final three sets while hitting .316.
And still Montana had its chances. The Grizzlies fought back from a 17-12 deficit in set four to tie it at 22-22, but a service error and attack error, followed by a BSU kill gave the Cardinals a 25-22 win.
Ball State jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the final set. Montana used three kills by Janell Sparks in the freshman's only set of the match to rally and even the score at 9-9.
With the score tied 12-12, Ball State used two kills and a Griz attack error to close out the match.
