GREAT FALLS, Mont. - The University of Great Falls volleyball team recovered well from a devastating 5-set loss to Montana Western, turning around the next day to beat defending Frontier Conference champs Rocky Mountain College in straight sets, 3-0 (26-24, 26-24, 25-19).
The first two sets were a virtual carbon copy, with Rocky taking a 24-22 lead before UGF rallied off four straight points to win 26-24. In the first set the rally came with freshman
Emily Stoker serving and was powered by kills from seniors
Tiffany Marks and
Madison Wilhelm. It was
Kennedy Chadwick serving during the second set rally and junior
Mariah Diaz, sophomore
Korie Milan, and Marks leading the charge with kills.
The third set was all UGF. The Lady Argos took an early lead and outside of letting Rocky tie it up at 8 each, led the rest of the way. In that set the Lady Argo's offense clicked on all cylinders with a team hitting percentage of 0.421.
A large reason for such a clean offensive performance was the team's excellent passing and setting. Playing along the backline, Chadwick, Stoker, and senior outside hitter
Madison Wilhelm started the offense on the right track, accurately directing digs and serve receives to senior setter
Bree Davis.
From there Davis made smart choices, keeping the Battlin' Bear defense off balance by finding a variety of Lady Argo hitters. More often than not, however, the attack Davis looked to was Wilhelm, the team's captain and kills leader. The outside hitter had a monster match, finished with 18 kills, 1 hitting error, and 22 digs.
Also dialed in for the UGF offense was junior right side hitter
Mariah Diaz. The transfer had one of her best matches of the year both offensively and defensively, finishing with a career high of 10 kills, just 3 errors, and another career high of 6 block assists. Her 0.333 hitting percentage was her second highest of the season.
Chadwick and Stoker each finished the match with 16 digs, while Davis accounted for 49 of the team's 52 assists.
The win is the first conference victory of the season for UGF as the team's record goes to 7-8 (1-1). After three straight home matches, the team goes off on a three match road trip, starting with MSU-Northern on Sept. 22 at 7 p.m.
