GREAT FALLS, Mont. – Through two sets it looked like Lady Argo volleyball would get an easy victory in its first Frontier Conference match of the season, but the inconsistency that has plagued the team all year, again reared its head. A 27-25 loss in set 3 to the University of Montana Western gave the Bulldogs new life and ultimately cost UGF the match, falling to UMW 3-2 (16-25, 16-25, 27-25, 25-19, 15-13).
The Lady Argos were clearly the better team in sets 1 and 2. In those two sets, UGF's defense was stifling, limiting the Bulldogs to a hitting percentage of 0.139 in the first set, and -0.067 in the second. Great Falls also kept a fairly clean sheet of its own in those sets, committing a total of 6 hitting errors to 26 kills.
As Western took an early lead in the third set, the assumption in the gym was that the Lady Argos simply lost its edge would soon regain is superior performance. That looked to be the case as UGF rallied off six straight points flip the score from 16-11 Bulldogs to 17-16 Argos. While the rallied broke the UMW lead, it didn't break Western's spirit and the two teams battled back-and-forth till the score was tied 25-25. Western then scored the next two points to won the set 27-25.
Winning a set seemed to spark new life into the Bulldogs and the Lady Argos defense, which was so strong in the first two sets, struggled to stop UMW in set 4. Western's hitting percentage jumped to 0.458 leading to a 25-19 set 4 win.
Set 5 was essentially a microcosm of the overall match. UGF got off to a confident start, switching the court with an 8-4 and making the Argo faith think the team had finally woken back up. Two points later, however, the Bulldogs went on a 5-point rally to take a 10-9 lead.
The final nine points mimicked the end of set 3. Both teams traded points and leads until settling on a 13-13 tie which Western broke with two straight points.
As usual, senior captain Madison Wilhelm was at the heart of the action, leading the team in kills (21) and digs (20) but also in hitting errors (11) and service errors (4). She also finished with 4 blocks assists, part of UGF's 11 total blocks.
Those 11 blocks were a statistical advantage for UGF, 11-9, but that was true in most statistical categories. The Lady Argos finished the match with more points, kills, blocks, assists, and digs than the Bulldogs and also finished with a higher hitting percentage and just three more hitting errors.
Sophomore Korie Milan was one of the few Lady Argos to play well in the last few sets. The outside hitter had 10 of her 15 kills in the last three sets with only 4 errors in that span of time. She finished the match second on team in kills and points (15) while leading UGF with a hitting percentage of 0.357.
The loss is a tough way for Great Falls to start Frontier Conference play, and drops the team's record to 6-8 (0-1) on the year. The Lady Argos will get a short rest before facing defending conference champions, Rocky Mountain College, on Saturday, Sept. 17 at 2 pm., for another home match.
