Bobcats rally for 3-1 victory in Bozeman

Saturday, September 26

Bozeman, Mont.

7:00 PM

Montana

4-10, 0-2

Montana State *

3-7, 1-1

Montana

Montana State

9/26/2015 10:34:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana State dropped a lopsided opening set, but the Bobcats rallied back for a 3-1 victory over the Montana volleyball team Saturday night at Shroyer Gym in Bozeman, 12-25, 25-20, 25-21, 25-22. It was Montana State's first win over Montana in Bozeman since 2005.

Natalie Passeck had 15 kills on .225 hitting to lead the Bobcats (3-7, 1-1 BSC), who limited the Grizzlies to .168 hitting, their first time under .200 in their last seven matches.

Hannah Sackett had 16 kills for Montana but hit just .182, with eight errors on 44 swings. The senior outside hitter had hit .308 the previous six matches.

Montana ran away with the opening set, jumping out to an 8-3 lead and never looked back to quiet the crowd of 1,555. The 25-12 final was part Montana's doing -- the Grizzlies had 11 kills and just one error on 21 swings to hit .476 -- and part Montana State's -- the Bobcats had more errors (10) than kills (9).

But everything changed from there. Montana State limited its errors, which upped its kills, and Montana could not generate enough offense to keep up. The Bobcats, who hit .304 the rest of the match after hitting -.033 in the opener, never trailed in winning sets two and three.

"It was a disappointing loss," said first-year coach Brian Doyon, who went up against first-year Montana State coach JJ Riley, both assistants at Utah the previous three years. "They made some adjustments and changed some things, and we weren't able to keep pace with them

"They really came out with the intent to beat us and were digging balls and playing scrappier and tougher than we were."

Montana State jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the fourth set, but the Grizzlies would not go away quietly. Sackett had six of her match-high 16 kills in the final set, and Raegan Lindsey served six straight points to give Montana a 14-10 lead.

The Bobcats would use back-to-back attack errors by the Grizzlies, who had 24 of them the final three sets, to claw back and grab a 17-16 advantage. Montana would not lead again.

An MSU ball-handling error allowed the Grizzlies to pull within 23-22, but Loni Kreun put down consecutive kills to finish off the match.

What proved costly in Wednesday's 3-1 loss to Weber State in Montana's Big Sky Conference opener, serving and receiving errors, was a strong point for the Grizzlies Saturday night. They were aced just three times, a season low, and committed seven fewer service errors.

But the offense that hit a season-best .279 against the Wildcats hit just .106 after the opening set.

"I thought we came out and played well early," said Doyon. "We did some really nice things. The areas we worked on, our serving and our passing, we did significantly better at. So we were able to run our offense, but we weren't able to score enough points."

Montana got production from its outsides -- Janell Sparks, who added five blocks, and Silerolia Gaogao both finished with nine kills -- but little from its middles. Capri Richardson was held to five kills on .083 hitting, though her match-high seven blocks helped Montana finish with a 10-7 blocking advantage.

Lindsey finished with 22 assists and three service aces, Sadie Ahearn had a match-high 16 digs.

Montana will play at North Dakota (12-6, 1-1 BSC) on Thursday and at Northern Colorado (4-11, 0-2 BSC) next Saturday.