BUTTE, Mont. – BUTTE, Mont. – A 22-13 deficit in the first set was not the way Lady Argo volleyball wanted to start its match against #9 Vanguard, but UGF rallied in both the set and the match to get a 3-1 (31-29, 17-25, 26-24, 25-20) upset victory. 
 
Coming off of a tough 3-1 loss to Northwest (Wash.) the night before, UGF struggled to focus early on. Poor defensive execution allowed the Lions offense dictate play, keeping the Lady Argos on their heels. Down 22-13, UGF Head Coach Arunas Duda called a time to try and turn things around. He used a few personal sticking points with his players to try and rally the troops.
 
"It was just talking about pride. They were down by seven or eight points and I think we just kind of let our pride get away from us a little bit. We were sloppy," Duda said. "We have a lot of kids from California on our team and we're playing a team from California and some of them have friends on that team. So it was just about them resetting and saying 'Hey, we really want to win this match, and here's how we're going to do it.'"
 
Duda's speech worked and sparking the comeback was sparsely used reserve, Alicia Norling whose strong serves led UGF on a 5-point rally to put the set back in reach. The junior outside hitter finished with few stats to speak of, but pulled off a similar feat late in set number four to help finish the match. 
 
The magic of Alicia Norling's serves brought back the Lady Argo's pride and confidence as the team first rallied to keep Vanguard from taking advantage of hold set points, then took the lead, and finally closed the match at 31-29 with a block from junior right side hitter Mariah Diaz and sophomore middle blocker Maya Kiruluta.
 
UGF ended the set with a 0.324 hitting percentage and 3 total blocks, but the Lady Argo offense stalled in set 2 and early in set 3. The third set held a similar, though less dramatic, pattern to the first and required another Argo comeback and another set point situation for Vanguard before UGF could take a 2-1 lead.
 
Somewhere during that penultimate set, two things happened; senior captain Madison Wilhelm became the best player on the court, and the Lady Argos defense found its groove.
 
If Norling was the situational difference maker, Wilhelm was the statistical difference maker. The senior overcame a history of poor play in Butte over her four-year career to lead all players with 25 kills on 49 attempts and also led UGF with 13 digs. In the final two sets, Wilhem had 15 of those kills, 10 of those digs, and just 2 of her 7 total hitting errors.
 
Whatever fire Wilhelm found, it was likely stolen for her by the UGF defense from the Vanguard offense. After allowing team hitting percentages of 0.222 and 0.393 in the first two sets, the Lady Argos limited the Lions to 0.088 and 0.058 in the next two. Most encouragingly for Duda about his team's defensive play, was that it was a product of just one player.
 
"I think we had a hard time at the beginning of the match kind of resetting and focusing for this morning. Once we started playing though, we started believing in each other," Duda said. "I actually think for one of the first times this year we played good six-person team defense. I was really impressed with that."
 
If there was an individual who stood out defensively other than Wilhelm, it was senior middle blocker Tiffany Marks who continued her strong play from Day 1 of the Big Sky Challenge with 4 blocks, including 3 solo blocks. She also added 8 kills to her season total.
 
Helping that defense transition into offense was senior setter Bree Davis. She took majority of the of setting duties in a system that usually sees her split time with junior Dani Norling. Davis finished with 37 assists, 6 digs, 3 kills, and a hitting percentage of 0.286.
 
As a team, there was very little statistically that would suggest UGF was to be the victor. The two teams were dead even in digs and kills, while Vanguard got the better of UGF in points, aces, and blocks.
 
The win brings the Lady Argo's record to 3-4 with all three wins coming against ranked opponents. Their fourth and final foe in the Big Sky Challenge will be unranked Evergreen State College at 5 p.m. on Aug. 27.