BILLINGS, Mont. – Trailing two sets to one late against the Western Oregon Wolves, the Montana State University Billings volleyball team could have keeled over.
 
Instead, the Yellowjackets rallied – thanks to a season-best 21-kill outing from Bayli Monck, timely blocks from Joelle Mahowald and Hannah Hayden, plus a strong back row defense to win in five sets on Thursday night.
 
"I think we really showed that grit and that fire we've always had," Monck said. "It's been here and there every once in a while – I think it showed against Northwest Nazarene, but it didn't show in Alaska – and we were really hungry for that win. All of us were really ready to play again and work together, and I think we did a really good job of that."
 
The usual suspects of Monck, Mahowald (14 kills) and Skylar Reed (13 kills) led the way on offense for the Yellowjackets' (5-8, 2-3 GNAC), whose balanced attack saw nine different players record kills. Defensively, the 'Jackets held the Wolves (2-9, 0-4 GNAC) to a .119 hitting percentage, plus its back-line defense kept the team locked into long rallies that eventually sparked the team's comebacks.
 
"We got a lot of scrappy digs from Makayla Baca, Christine Funk and all of our back-row players," MSUB head coach Casey Williams said. "I thought our support staff did a really good job, and Bayli just finished a lot of plays."

QUICK HITS

• In addition to her 21 kills, Monck set a new career-best by hitting .459 on 37 total attempts.
• Freshman libero Christine Funk set a new career-high with 26 digs.
• Sophomore setter Hannah Hashbarger had a season-high 43 assists to go along with eight digs and one kill.
• Up front, Hannah Hayden led the way with six total blocks.

 
MATCH STATS

• MSUB hitting: .190 overall (.314 set one, .125 set two, -.075 set three, .222 set four, .688 set five)
• Western Oregon hitting: .119 overall (162 set one, .111 set two, .100 set three, .086 set four, .167 set five)
• Service aces: MSUB 9, WOU 9
• Digs: MSUB 68, WOU 59
• Blocks: MSUB 7, WOU 8
• Western Oregon was led by Isabel Hurliman's 16 kills, 17 digs and one service ace.

 
After trading runs early in the first, MSUB tied the game at 8-all with kills from Mikayla Yore, Joelle Mahowald and a bad swing from Western Oregon. The Wolves would tie the score just one more time in the set before Olivia Schwartz's first kill of the night put MSUB ahead for good. Bayli Monck, Skylar Reed and Mahowald combined for eight kills from that point forward, plus Reed notched the first of her three service aces on the game to give MSUB a commanding 22-14 lead. A 4-0 run from the Wolves prompted a MSUB timeout, but then Hailey Carroll set up Mahowald and Reed to force set point. MSUB would win the first set, 25-21.
 
In the second set, MSUB doubled up the Wolves early off a nifty kill from Mahowald, who looked right, but sent the ball across her body to the left to make the score 10-5. Yet Western Oregon went on a 7-1 run – interrupted for a moment by another kill from Yore – to take a 12-11 lead. A bad serve out of an MSUB timeout tied the game at 12, but the Wolves tore off another 6-0 run capitalized by an ace to lead 18-13. The 'Jackets, to their credit, clawed back. The Monck-Reed-Mahowald trio came through once more, then back-to-back kills from Zoe Bibb tied the game at 22-all. Mahowald's eighth kill of the night forced a WOU timeout, yet the Wolves stormed back to steal the second set, 25-23.
 
Refusing to cool off from the end of the second set, WOU jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the third before Reed got MSUB on the board. Trailing 12-3, MSUB stormed back into the game, first with a kill from Monck, then from Hayden and Monck's defense at the net and finally with an ace from Reed. The Wolves went on a 4-0 lead to make the score 16-8 before kills from Monck and Mahowald temporarily halted the visitors' momentum. Staring at an 18-11 deficit, the 'Jackets got new life as Western Oregon couldn't place its shots inbounds on three consecutive points. Another 3-0 MSUB run late in the third brought them within six, 23-17, but the 'Jackets ran out of steam and the Wolves won the third set, 25-17.
 
In the fourth, WOU took an early 3-2 lead, but that was all for the visitors. MSUB slammed its foot on the accelerator with a 5-0 run to reclaim the lead, then ripped off a 6-0 run later in the set for good measure.
 
"I feel like we found our rhythm a bit," Williams said. "We've been switching up the lineup a lot and switching our rotations, so I feel like that was us settling into a couple of the changes we made and it was cool to see the girls click on that fourth set and continue that into the fifth set."
 
With a 10-6 lead and Mahowald behind the service line, the Wolves couldn't get a good handle on the fifth-year senior's serves. Mahowald's pair of aces, three errors from Western Oregon, then another kill from Monck that rocketed into the back row prompted a timeout from the Wolves' bench.
 
Reed bolstered the MSUB attack late in the fourth, as four of her 13 kills on the night came in the pivotal fourth set. Leading 18-10, she fired up the bench on a kill off a tough angle on the right sideline. The Wolves only could only string together two consecutive points from there on out, as MSUB took a pivotal 25-17 fourth-set win into the fifth.
 
"We've been really working on a lot of situational things, like if we're down by a certain amount of points, we have to work our way back," Monck said of the fourth set. "I think we really used what we learned in practice in the game. But I think that every single thing that we did was with purpose, which was really great."
 
Both teams traded points early in the fifth, but the game was all MSUB. Monck's 20^th kill and Jahsita Fa'ali'i acting as a closer of sorts on back-to-back swings prompted a Western Oregon timeout. Nothing changed when play resumed: Aces from Monck bookended another run that included kills from Fa'ali'i and Mahowald.
 
Sensing the end of the game was near, almost every Yellowjacket got in on the action: Reed threw down another kill. Sophomore setter Hannah Hashbarger faked out the defense, sending the ball at an opportune time for her only kill of the night. The defense came through too, courtesy of a block from Hayden and Monck. Fittingly, Monck's 21^st kill of the game put the Wolves away on match point, giving MSUB a 15-6 fifth-set win.

"We've been on a rollercoaster a little bit, and I want that to flat-line out," Williams said. "I think we still have our best volleyball yet to play this season, so I'm looking forward to developing that out on the court on Saturday."
 
THE BUZZ: Bayli Monck was the St. Vincent Healthcare Player of the Game thanks to her all-around 21-kill, nine-dig, four-block and three service-ace statline.
 
UP NEXT: MSUB is back in action against Saint Martin's on Saturday, Oct. 2 at 1 p.m. Links to live stats and video can be found on msubsports.com.