BUTTE, Mont. – Facing its first ranked opponent in over a month, Lady Argo volleyball put up a good fight but couldn't pull off the upset, falling 3-1 (19-25, 25-17, 25-22, 26-24) for (15) Montana Tech. The Lady Argos received a huge effort from junior Melissa Gonzalez and a second straight strong match from senior Josee Pendleton.
 
Stellar  net defense got UP off to a great start in the first set. Of the team's first 9 points, 3 came from blocks and Pendleton was part of each one. After taking a 5-4 lead, the Lady Argos held an advantage the rest of the way.
 
Both Gonzalez and Pendleton made their impact felt in the first set. Gonzalez finished the set with 5 kills, while Pendleton ended with 3 kills and 3 block assists.
 
Solid serve receive started the process of efficient offense for the Lady Argos who hit for a percentage of .379 in the first set. That changed in the next few sets as the Orediggers started to change service errors into service aces.
 
Tech's Gena McMillan and Hannah Liss gave UP a particular problem. The two combined for 3 aces in the second set and as the Lady Argos scrambled to control Tech's serves, the team's initial offensive efficiency dissipated.
 
UP's hitting percentage dropped to .091 in the set and the Diggers held the lead pretty much throughout. The Lady Argos had the score within 3 points at 20-17 but then had 3 hitting errors in a 5-0 rally for Tech that ended the set at 25-17.
 
A 5-0 UP run started the third set. The set continued to go the Lady Argo's way, with the team holding the lead until Tech tied it up 21-21.  until the very end. The next point went to the Lady Argos, but that was the last time they would score in the set. The Diggers score the last 4 points to go up 2 sets to 1.
 
The fourth set was the by far the closest and included a few crucial rallies by both teams. Tech went on the first run, rallying off 5 straight points. Not to be outdone, UP then scored the next 5 points.
 
UP then used a few small runs to eventually take a 17-15 lead that the Diggers negated with a 7-1 run that all the sudden had Tech in control with a 22-18 advantage.
 
The Lady Argos were keen to go away quietly, however, and took advantage of 3 MTT hitting errors to score 5 of the next 6 points and tie the game up 24-24.
 
Much like in the third set, the Diggers were up to the challenge with things got close and score the next 2 points to win the match.
 
Gonzalez and Pendleton were UP's two highest point scorers. Gonzalez led the team with 14 kills, a new career high for a 4-set match, and had the highest hitting percentage of any Lady Argos with more than 3 attempts with a percentage of .367. She also had one of the team's 14 block assists.
 
After playing one of the best matches of her career a week ago in UP's 3-1 win over Lewis-Clark State College, senior middle blocker Josee Pendleton had another strong night on both offense and defense. She led the team with 1 solo block and 5 block assists and was third on the team with 8 kills and a hitting percentage of .313.
 
Libero Brooke Foth finished with 10 digs for her seventh straight match with 10 or more digs. Junior Tymerie Vincelli came off the bench to finish second the team with 8 digs.
 
UP's record goes to 15-8 (2-4) on the season with half of conference play now finished. The team gets a bye week before the second half begins on October 19 with a home match against Montana Western.