BUTTE, Mont. – An impressive day by the College of Idaho led the Lady Yotes to a pair of victories at the Big Sky Volleyball Challenge inside the Butte Civic Center.
The No. 7 ranked Lady Yotes (4-2) ran their win streak at the tournament to 10 in a row with a three set win over Carroll College (25-18, 29-27, 25-23) and a back-and-forth five-set win over No. 12 Montana Tech (18-25, 25-21, 25-23, 19-25, 15-11).
Ashley Pagan and
Taylor Alexander each recorded two double-doubles, combining for 54 kills, 73 digs and nine aces in the victories.
In the early match vs. the Saints (2-3), Pagan dominated the opening set, recording six kills and adding a pair of aces, in the easy win. C of I was cruising in Set 2 with a 20-14 lead, before a trio of combo blocks helped Carroll tie the score at 23-23. The Montana school would have three set point opportunities – but the Yotes fought each off – with kills from Alexander and
Mali Sawyer ending the frame.
C of I never trailed in Set 3, jumping to an 11-5 lead before the Saints rallied late, getting within 24-23, before a setting error ended the contest.
Pagan had 13 kills, 22 digs and three aces; Alexander had 10 kills and 16 digs;
Jackie van Vliet had 13 kills; with
Marija Djonovic logging 39 assists and 16 digs. C of I won despite recording just one team block.
Five different Carroll players had six kills – including setter Rayna Pilgeram, who had six kills, 25 assists, 16 digs and three aces.
Facing the defending Frontier Conference champion Orediggers (2-3), C of I used a big fifth-set run to win the match.
After Tech erased a 2-1 set advantage, the Diggers used three Karina Mickelson kills to open a 5-2 lead in the clinching frame. C of I had other thoughts, as two Pagan kills started a game-changing 9-1 surge that gave the visitors the lead for good.
The Orediggers closed Set 1 on an 8-2 run – getting four aces in the opening period. MT led 19-17 in Set 2, before Pagan caught fire, blasting three kills in an 8-2 surge to even the match.
C of I trailed 20-15 in Set 3, but Alexander served up six-straight points – getting an ace and two van Vliet kills to regain the lead, part of a 10-1 run to end the period. However, Tech hit a match-best .324 in Set 4 – never trailing in the set, to force the decider.
Alexander had 16 kills and 18 digs, with Pagan recording 15 kills and 15 digs. Sawyer had 10 kills and van Vliet had 12 kills and seven blocks in the victory. Djonovic added 50 assists and 13 digs, with
Drew Dobney logging 16 digs from the back row.
Mickelson had 21 kills and 14 digs for Tech, with Masha Korol finishing with 14 kills and 17 digs.
C of I returns to the court tomorrow, meeting unbeaten Vanguard at 11 a.m. and Montana State-Northern at 3 p.m.
