HAVRE, Mont. – The University of Providence volleyball team didn't match the excellent level of play it achieved in its upset of (21) Rocky Mountain College the previous weekend but pulled off a strong win against Montana State University-Montana. UP had 50 kills to MSUN's 37 in a 3-1 (23-25, 25-21, 25-19, 25-20) victory that gives the Lady Argos five wins in the last six matches.
 
Overall the match featured two rather ineffective offenses and a lot of sloppy play. Both teams hit for percentages below .100. UP's was a dismal .077 while Northern's was barely any better at .084.
 
Both offenses had their best statistical performances in the first set. Freshman hitter Sydney Andersen had 2 early kills that put the Lady Argos ahead 4-1. That 3 point lead would be the biggest of the entire set for either team.
 
The turning point in the set was a rather accurate demonstration of UP's problem for most of the match. With the score tied at 22 all, the Lady Argos committed 2 straight hitting errors to give the Skylights set point. A kill from Andersen pulled UP within 1, but Northern won it on the next point with a kill of its own.
 
With each set, each team's hitting got worse, but thanks to some good defense by the Lady Argos, Northern's decreased by larger increments. After hitting for a percentage of .242 in the first set, MSUN's efficiency dropped to .143 in a second set that UP led most of the way.
 
Andersen and redshirt-freshman outside hitter Lauren Brown helped get the Lady Argos out to a 10-6 lead. A brief let down in the middle of the game, allowed Northern to go a 4-0 run that gave the Lights a brief lead, but senior right side hitter Mariah Diaz had 2 kills and 1 block in a 5-0 UP run brought the team's lead back to 4 points. Freshman middle blocker Ember Schwindt added 2 kills late in the set to help even the match score at 1-1.
 
UP took its largest lead of the night up to that point early in the third set on a 6-0 run that featured 2 kills and 2 blocks from Schwindt. The Lady Argos held the lead for a while, but 4 UP attacking errors in 5 points led to a 5-0 run that allowed the Lights to climb back into the game.
 
With the score tied 18-18, Brown led another big Lady Argo run which put the team ahead for good in a 25-19 third set win.
 
Despite big kills in big moments, UP offense continued to be its own worst enemy, committing 11 errors for the second straight set and hitting for a percentage of .024. The team's one saving grace was that Northern's offense was rendered almost completely ineffective, getting just 7 kills in the third set while committing 7 hitting errors.
 
Northern's hitting stats were almost identical in the fourth and final set, only instead of 7 errors, the Lights had 8.
 
Thanks in large part to those errors, the Lady Argos dominated the fourth set. The team led the entire way and held a 21-12 lead that almost slipped away right at the end. After earning match point with the score at 24-16, UP suddenly lost its focus and gave up 4 straight points before Diaz finally ended the match with a kill.
 
Brown had the best hitting match of her career, finishing second on the team with 10 kills and was the team's second most efficient hitter with a percentage of .194. Her career high was set against MSU-Billings in a 5-set match back on August 21, but she also had 8 hitting errors in that one.
 
After playing her first minutes at the position in the upset of Rocky, junior Tymerie Vincelli got her first career start at libero and accounted for herself well with a team leading 19 kills and only 1 reception error.
 
Andersen led UP in kills with 11 but also had 6 hitting errors. Senior middle blocker Josee Pendleton led the Lady Argos with 5 block assists and added 7 kills, similar numbers to freshman middle blocker Ember Schwindt who also had 7 kills along with 2 solo blocks and 1 block assist.
 
Freshman Ava Larkin had her seventh double-double of her career and first since September 14 with a team leading 21 assists, and 12 digs.
 
UP is now 18-8 (5-4) on the year and has avenged all of its losses from the first half of conference play beside (14) Montana Tech. Next for the Lady Argos will be a road contest against Carroll College on Saturday, October 28 at 2 p.m. Carroll's visit to Great Falls on September 23 was the turning point of UP's season, winning an epic 5-set match.