NAMPA, Idaho – Coming back from a 2-1 deficit, Montana State University Billings volleyball rallied 3-2 (21-25, 25-23, 26-28, 25-23, 17-15) over Northwest Nazarene University Saturday afternoon at Johnson Sports Center. The win broke up a five-match losing streak and propelled MSUB to its first road conference win.
"We played really well today," commented head coach
Casey Williams. "We fought hard and had good production from everyone. Our offense continued to improve as the match went on and we played some really scrappy defense."
The Yellowjackets (5-12, 3-5 GNAC) won a tight fourth set, then fought off two match points against in the fifth to win 17-15.
Eavan Taylor and
Maddi Vigil put away the final two kills of the match to seal the team's second five-set success of the fall.
Bayli Monck recorded her eighth double-double of the season with 19 kills and a career high 26 digs. Monck also posted five of MSUB's 22 total blocks and hit .298. Right side hitter
Skylar Reed took in 18 kills with one service ace, a pair of block assists, and hit .324. Vigil had 16 kills and hit .240 with 14 digs and two block assists.
Eavan Taylor played well at middle blocker with a season high six block assists and two solo blocks.
Joelle Mahowald pitched in 13 kills and a .290 hitting percentage to go with one solo block and five block assists.
Hannah Hashbarger helped set up kills with 62 assists.
The Yellowjackets out-hit NNU .243 to .219 with 71 total kills compared to 65 for the Nighthawks. Brooke Foster led Northwest Nazarene with 24 kills and 15 digs on .224 hitting.
NNU excelled with 12 service aces compared to six for MSUB. Taylor Markland recorded seven of NNU's 23 block assists. Northwest Nazarene (7-8, 4-3 GNAC) hosts Concordia University on Thursday. The Yellowjackets return to Billings to play Saint Martin's University (0-16, 0-7 GNAC) Thursday at 7 p.m. for Pink Night.
THE BUZZ: Bayli Monck was named St. Vincent Healthcare player of the game for MSUB. Monck bested her previous career high in digs by six and recorded her ninth career double-double. She is on pace to surpass her career high 253 season kill total set in 2017.
