Montana drops five-set decision to Binghamton

Saturday, September 12

Philadelphia, Pa.

1:30 PM (MT)

Montana

2-7

Binghamton

3-6

Binghamton

Montana

9/12/2015 5:30:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana volleyball team built a 2-0 lead and had three match points to sweep Binghamton Saturday afternoon at Temple's Cherry and White Challenge in Philadelphia, but the Bearcats stormed back for a five-set victory, 20-25, 19-25, 28-26, 25-17, 15-11.

The Grizzlies (2-7) produced some of their best offense of the young season through the first three sets. Behind senior Hannah Sackett's second big match of the day, Montana put down 50 kills on .242 hitting through three sets, but once again it was errors that ruined the team's chance to break its losing streak.

Leading 24-23 with the serve and one point from victory, Montana had one of its 15 service errors. A few points later, with the set tied 26-26, the Grizzlies had back-to-back hitting errors, neither of which was blocked, to let Binghamton up off the mat. Montana had 30 attack errors for the match.

The Bearcats (3-6) hit .220 in the fourth set and .600 in the fifth to rally all the way back for the victory.

"Hopefully we learned a little bit about ourselves today, that we've got to battle for every point and can't give opportunities away. We've got to manage ourselves a little bit better," said coach Brian Doyon. "But we'll learn from this and improve."

Montana looked like world-beaters in the opening set. The Grizzlies put down 18 kills on .552 hitting, with Sackett leading the way with eight kills and no errors on 11 swings. Setters Rachel DeArman and Raegan Lindsey set up seven different players for opening-set kills.

The Grizzlies limited Binghamton to .026 hitting in the second set, then rallied back from a 15-8 hole in set three to nearly pick up its first 3-0 sweep of the season and snap a six-match losing streak. The Bearcats weren't having it.

"The girls came out and played well at the start of the match and were really focused," said Doyon. "Binghamton made a lot of hustle plays to stay in it and started battling back, and unfortunately we didn't have an answer for that fight."

Binghamton pulled away from what was a one-point margin midway through the fourth set, and the Bearcats never trailed in the fifth.

Sackett finished with 18 kills, giving her 38 for the day on .338 hitting. Senior middle blocker Capri Richardson came off the bench to finish with 13 kills on .417 hitting, and sophomore outside hitter Janell Sparks added 12 kills but also had 10 of the team's 30 attack errors.

Sophomore middle blocker Brianna Gardner had five kills on .286 hitting and finished with a team-high four blocks. Lindsey totaled 28 assists, 10 digs and two service aces, while junior libero Sadie Ahearn dug a team-high 18 balls.

Alexis Lagoy had 10 kills on .269 hitting and a match-high six blocks to lead Binghamton.

Montana will face Abilene Christian, Denver and Illinois-Chicago next weekend at the Denver Invitational. The Grizzlies open Big Sky Conference play with a home match against Weber State on Wednesday, Sept. 23.