Bobcats rally, knock off Grizzlies

Saturday, October 1

Bozeman, Mont.

7:00 PM

Montana

4-10, 1-3

Montana State

3-10, 1-3

Montana

Montana State

10/1/2016 10:20:00 PM | Volleyball

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By: Montana Sports Information

For the second straight year the Montana volleyball team traveled to Bozeman and jumped out to a 1-0 lead over Montana State. And for the second consecutive season the Bobcats answered with three straight wins to post a 3-1 victory over the Grizzlies.

Montana State (3-10, 1-3 BSC) limited Montana (4-10, 1-3 BSC) to .056 hitting, .021 after the opening set, and won its first match since Aug. 27 with a 22-25, 25-18, 25-17, 25-22 victory Saturday night at Shroyer Gym.

"I was really proud of the girls. They played their hearts out," said coach Brian Doyon, whose team lost 3-0 at Sacramento State on Thursday night, flew home to Missoula on Friday and bussed to Bozeman on Saturday.

"We played a tough match before coming here, and Montana State was fired up to play us, as they always are when they get us at home. It was a good match and a good battle."

The Grizzlies led most of set one, hitting .172 while holding the Bobcats to .000. Back-to-back MSU errors allowed Montana to go up 19-15, and the Grizzlies held on for what would be their only set victory of the week.

Montana State held Montana to -.031 hitting in sets two and three, and the Bobcats rallied back from a late five-point deficit to win in four.

"It came down to the serve-pass game tonight," said Doyon, who watched his team match its season high with 10 service errors and hit below .100 for the ninth time in 14 outings.

"We held up really well in the first set and were doing some good things, then the next couple of sets we weren't able to stay with it. Some of our serves got away from us and our passing faded away, and we weren't able to stay in system enough to get the big swings we were getting in the first set."

Despite losses in sets two and three, and facing a 5-1 deficit in set four, the Grizzlies fought back. Behind the serving of Cassie Laramee and Sadie Ahearn, they went on a 12-3 to build a 14-10 lead.

Montana led 20-15 before Montana State closed the match on a 10-2 run of its own. Three of the Bobcats' 10 points came by service ace, including match point.

"We got ourselves in some passing trouble where we weren't able to side out," said Doyon. "They came with some tough serves and were targeting a couple of our passers. We just weren't able to get ourselves into enough of a rhythm to get ourselves out of it."

Alexis Urbach led Montana with 11 kills, Missy Huddleston had eight kills on .278 hitting, McKenzie Kramer had a team-high five blocks, and Ahearn totaled 13 digs.

Caitlin Lonergan finished with 17 kills and four blocks for Montana State.

The result evened the teams' all-time series record at 54-54. The teams will meet in Missoula on Friday, Nov. 4.