The Vandals continued their two-game stint on the road in the state of Montana as they went from Missoula to Bozeman. Coming off a loss to the Grizzlies falling t0 1-14 looking to bounce back against the 5-11 Bobcats, UI still in search of their first win in Big Sky Play.
The game began with Montana State going scoring the first two then a 3-1 run by the Vandals tied things up early. The Bobcats went on from there to take an 11-6 lead before UI took their first timeout. Montana State continued to roll from there, but the Vandals were able to get to within three a few separate times, crawling even closer late trailing only 19-17 but the Bobcats closed out the set and took the opener 25-17.
The next set continued to show the dominance from Montana State, eventually leading 11-5 before another timeout. The Bobcats weren’t phased by the pause in play, as they kept scoring points and UI was having a hard time keeping up. They were able to keep crawling closer and closer the later it got. At one point they got to within five, then again later when it was 23-19 but MSU scored a pair and ended the middle frame.
The third set started with a little momentum shift as the Vandals were able to take their first lead of the game when they lead 2-1. MSU made sure that it didn’t last long as they tied and retained the lead from there. UI was able to tie it back up a few times in the early stretch but then the Bobcats began to pull away. They grew their advantage to as many as nine when they lead 23-14 and even though UI got a couple more, they finished the sweep winning the final set 25-17. Freshman Teya Yeomans delivered the final kill.
Zuzanna Wieczorek lead the Vandals in kills with nine. Jourdain Kamps and Madilyn Siebler each had nine as well for the Bobcats. Miya Carmichael for UI and Nellie Stevenson for MSU each lead their team in assists with 27 apiece. The two squads meet again in Moscow on November 7. The game will tip off at 4 p.m. It can be seen on ESPN+.
For the Vandals they fall to 1-15 on the year and still haven’t won a conference game. On the plus side they now get to come back home for four consecutive games in the Memorial Gymnasium. The first of the four-game homestand begins Thursday against Weber State at 6 p.m. It is also “Tough Enough to Wear Pink” night so make sure to wear the proper colors!
You can reach Jackson Hamelund at [email protected]