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By Bruce Sayler
Montana Tech was a formidable volleyball team on Saturday night.
The Orediggers played their fourth game of the season and their fourth Big Sky Volleyball challenge Saturday at the HPER Complex, coming off a four-game sweep against regular national rival Vanguard from Costa Mesa, California.
Montana Tech cruised through the first two sets, stumbled in the third and outscored the Lions in the fourth. Set scores were 25-18, 25-16, 23-25, 26-24.
“Yeah, we had some good things we did tonight,” Orediggers head coach Brian Solomon said to a cheering crowd as the crowd left the Montana Tech Hyper Complex. “Our blocking was very strong and gave the team some chances to play. We are blocking well.
Montana Tech’s blockers posted 16 stops, nine by Alexis Umland and five by Taylor Henley in a strong front line performance. Maureen Jessop’s 22 kills also featured for the Warriors.
13Th-ranked Orediggers went 3-1 in their loss on Thursday when 9th-ranked Viterbo hosted four.
“We really have to do some things in our service game,” Solomon said. “We dug ourselves a hole in the last game.
“Our midfielders were active in our block play and turned the game our way.”
Jessop’s first kill and a rash of Vanguard errors gave Montana Tech a 5-1 lead to start the game. The lions roared back, but were never caught in the set. The Orediggers had a seven-point lead, 22-15, after a layup by Roslyn Zentz. Vanguard fought back to within 22-17 before a tip-in by Megan Benton caught the score. A service error gave the ball back to the Lions, but Hailey Peterson hit a layup to give Montana Tech a 1-0 lead.
The Oredigers also led in the second set. They built the lead to 4-1, again thanks to a Jessop kill and some Vanguard errors. The difference was pretty close until Logan Reed scored for a four-point lead in the Oredigers’ 22-13 Bulge. Emma Carvo served for set point 24-14, and two serves later, Benton fired a kill. He ended the game and Montana Tech was trailing 2-0.
“When Vanguard changed some things in the third set, the game shifted gears,” Solomon said.
Cambria took a 6-3 lead as Fernandez and Delaney Hill led the rebellion. They held the lead until Jessop hit a kill attempt to tie the game at 12-all. Montana Tech regained the lead with a block by Henley and another Carvo AC to extend the lead to 20-17.
Callie Bickmore had a kill that tied the count at 20-all for the Lions. The teams went point-for-point to a 24-23 edge with Vanguard gaining on a 50-50 shot by Peterson. He followed by killing the hill and won a group of lions.
Through the fourth set, the contest remained strong and tight. Montana Tech looked to be in command at 21-16 after another Benton kill. The Lions clawed back and held the Orediggers to game point, tying the set at 24-all when Benton’s shot sailed wide of the court.
A sharp return to the net by Umland forced Vanguard to commit four fouls and the Orediggers won the match and the match on a point kill by Jessop.
Henley had seven kills for second on the team at Jessop. Zentz dished out 41 assists. Jessop added to her kill total with 13 digs behind the 15 kills posted by libero Jelena Jablanov.
Hill led the Vanguard with 11 kills, Rachel Lim dished out 20 assists, Blair Dodge had 22 digs and Peterson led the Lions in blocks with four.
“It was a really successful race,” Solomon said. It had a lot of high-level teams and I got a lot of positive feedback from coaches and teams.
The meeting was originally scheduled to be held at the Butte Civic Center, but was moved to the HPER Complex and Maroon Activities Center because the Civic Center will be used for production of the upcoming “1923” television miniseries.
“It was a big logistical challenge, but we still had some great spots,” Solomon said. We’ve had a lot of help from the Butte (government), the Butte community and our other coaches and staff here at Montana Tech. We had a good size crowd.
“It was successful.”
The Orediggers head to Great Falls this week for a non-conference matchup, playing Jamestown in North Dakota on Thursday, then Arizona Christian on Friday morning and Masters University of California on Friday night.
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