BILLINGS, Mont. – An electric 29-27 first set left the Montana State University Billings volleyball team (5-6, 1-1 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) in an early hole in which they could not recover from as they dropped a 3-0 (29-27, 25-14, 25-20) match at Rocky Mountain College (11-5, 2-0 Frontier Conference) in the Fortin Center on Tuesday night.
"We saw some positive things tonight but it was not enough to overcome our errors," head coach
Casey Williams said after the game. "Inconsistency on our side of the net and unforced errors led to a tough outcome. I am glad we will get another opportunity to match up against Rocky in October.
The effort needed to win the battle for Billings was apparent in the first set as the teams exchanged points in a deadlocked match with 10 ties.
Hali Ehresmann was a major presence on the front line during the first set as she powered the 'Jackets offense with six kills while adding a block-assists on the defensive side of the net.
Izela Alvarez was her usual self on the back line as she stacked up nine digs for the 'Jackets in the first set alone.
Katie Campbell held serve for a four point rally that brought the 'Jackets within two, 18-16. MSUB tied the match at 23-23 on an Ehresmann kill and
Maddi Vigil gave the 'Jackets an opportunity to win the first set with another. However it was an untimely attack error the let the Bears tie the match at 24-24. Ehresmann again responded with a swing off of one of
Alexa Smythe's 22 assists to give MSUB one more shot to close out the opening frame. In the end the RMC offense made the timely kills in a crucial opening set.
The second set was defined by the Battlin' Bears .389 hitting percentage in the 25-14 win to take the 2-0 lead. The Yellowjackets also recorded their best hitting percentage (.200) of the night in the second set but three of Rocky's nine blocks on the night stymied the 'Jacket attack.
At the start of the final set, the 'Jackets were stung by a 5-1 RMC run and could only pull within two at the 12-10 mark. The MSUB defense fought to keep the match close with Ehresmann and
Bayli Monck teaming up for three blocks in the third set but the Yellowjacket's 11 kills were not effective enough to bring them back.
MSUB will be back on the court on Thursday when they visit No. 13 Western Washington University (7-3, 1-1 GNAC) in Bellingham, Wash. They will conclude their week on Saturday in Burnaby, B.C. with conference foe Simon Fraser University (3-7, 02 GNAC).
THE BUZZ: Izela Alvarez finished the match with a team leading 21 digs and increased her digs per set average to a GNAC-leading 5.65… The loss to RMC is the first match this season in which the 'Jackets did not have a player record 10 or more kills.
