GREAT FALLS, Mont. – Lady Argo volleyball spanned the full spectrum of dominant to disappointing in a confusing match of inconsistency that ended in a 3-2 (31-33, 19-25, 25-19, 26-24, 15-12) loss to Benedictine University at Mesa. UP was up 18-8 in the first set and almost lost it, down 8-3 in the second set and won it, up 8-4 in the third set and lost it, down 16-6 in the fourth and almost won it, and led 11-9 in the fifth set and lost it.
 
After seeing conference rival beat Benedictine in straight sets earlier in the day, the Lady Argos came in expecting similar win and early on, a 3-0 win looked likely. UP got out to an early 9-4 lead and a 7-0 run with sophomore Emily Stoker serving extended that lead to 18-8.
 
The Redhawks climbed back a bit, but the Lady Argos still held set point at 24-19, but 6 straight points for BenU Mesa, including 4 straight UP attacking errors negated that advantage. The set turned into a seemingly endless back-and-forth and was finally won by the Lady Argos by an ace from Stoker.
 
BenU Mesa kept the momentum early in the second set, but then the Lady Argos started to get back to form. UP had its best hitting set of the match in the second game, finishing with a .229 attacking percentage. The team used two long rallies in the middle of the set to regain the lead and looked to be back on pace for a sweep with a 25-19 win.
 
That pace continued to start the third set. After the first 25 points of the set, UP led 13-11 and already tallied 3 blocks and had benefited from three unforced errors by the Redhawks. With the score at 15-14 UP, the Redhawks went on a 4-0 run to go ahead by 3 points. For the rest of the set, BenU Mesa scored twice for every point the Lady Argos scored and took the fourth set.
 
Losing that set seemed to knock the wheels off of UP's cart. BenU Mesa opened the fourth set by winning the first five points, and despite a couple Lady Argo timeouts, the Redhawks opened up a 16-6 lead. UP finally woke up and a 5-0 run with senior Dani Norling serving and by the end, the score was tied 22-22. Unlike in the first set, UP couldn't pull it out, and suddenly found its self in its sixth tiebreaker set of the 2017 season.
 
Of those five other matches to go into a fifth set, the Lady Argos came away with a win in four.
 
After dropping the first 2 points, UP rallied off six straight with the help of 4 attacking errors from the Redhawks. The Lady Argos hung on to that lead but 3 straight UP attacking errors switch the momentum and the lead to BenU Mesa and the Redhawks didn't let it go to win the set 15-12.
 
As has been the case in UP's other three loses, the Lady Argos ultimately beat themselves. Over the course of the match, the team committed 37 hitting errors, 2 setting errors, 5 service errors, 1 blocking error, and 6 ball handling errors.
 
Despite all of that, the extra sets did lead to some impress statistical totals for some of the Lady Argos. Junior Korie Milan led UP and set a new career high. She was also one of the team's more efficient hitters with a percentage of .256 and had 3 block assists for a total of 19.5 points.
 
Senior Josee Pendleton struggled offensively, but her blocking ended up being one of UP's more reliable ways of getting points. Her 11 block assists were a career high and is the highest total for any Lady Argo in 2017. Pendleton currently ranks 8th in the NAIA with 57 total blocks.
 
For the past few matches, UP hasn't used a libero, instead asking the team's five talented but inconsistent defensive specialists battle for the spot. Sophomore Brooke Foth apparently did enough and got the nod at libero against BenU Mesa. She responded with a career high of 19 digs.
 
The loss ends a seven match winning streak and gives UP a record of 13-4 at the end of non-conference play. Frontier Conference play begins for the Lady Argos with a road match against Montana Western on September 14 at 7 p.m.