BUTTE, Mont. – A vastly improved defensive effort at the net led to Lady Argo volleyball's second win of the year and second win over a ranked opponent, upsetting #20 Concordia (Neb.) 3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-23) at the Big Sky Challenge. UGF was bested by the Bulldogs in kills and aces but a 14-2 UGF advantage in blocks made the difference in the victory.
 
Net defense was a focus for UGF Head Coach Arunas Duda's team heading into the tournament and his players responded, particularly senior middle blocker Tiffany Marks. Marks was one of the Frontier Conference leaders in blocks in 2015 and finished the match with 2 solo blocks and 6 block assists, leading UGF in both categories.
 
"We worked a lot on our blocking and defense this week and I was very pleased to see those areas improve so quickly," Duda said. "We out-blocked CU and had more digs, so I'm very proud of our girls for that."
 
The difference in digs was less dramatic at 43-39 but not unimportant, particularly with the team being without its two freshman defensive specialists. Stepping up in the reception game was senior captain Madison Wilhelm. The All-Conference outside hitter led the Lady Argos with 17 digs while also leading in kills (10) and finishing second on the team in points (11.5).
 
Concordia made things easy for UGF in the first set with some sloppy play that included 13 hitting errors. The Lady Argos weren't efficient offensively either, tallying as many kills (7) as errors, but managed to grab the momentum off of CU's mistakes.
 
In the second and third sets, the Bulldogs stepped up their game but so did UGF. It was in that set that Marks started to really find her offensive stride. It was also when the Lady Argo backline showed its quality.
 
Junior setter Dani Norling was all over the court in the final two sets, hustling to save errant receptions while keeping the offensive moving. Norling led the team with 16 assists while totaling 7 digs and pairing well with senior libero Kennedy Chadwick. Chadwick, the team's other captain, finished with 13 digs and just 1 reception error, dealing with the dangerous serves of the Bulldogs.
 
The team's overall defensive effort was the key to eliminated the late set runs that killed UGF at the 2016 Biola Volleyball/Red Lion-Anaheim Summer Slam.
 
"We sided out well and limited strings of points by them, which was an issue last week," Duda said. "Overall, great improvements from last week, but we still have more to work on."
 
Duda will look to see more of those improvements in the Lady Argo's next match, a 7 p.m. contest against RV Northwest University later on Aug. 26. After that, Day 2 of the Big Sky Challenge will bring #9 Vanguard at 1 p.m. and Evergreen State College at 5 p.m.