BUTTE, Mont. – Opening their 2017 volleyball season against a pair of Frontier Conference foes in the Big Sky Challenge hosted by Montana Tech at the Butte Civic Center, the Multnomah University Lions fell 3-0 to the University of Providence (Mont.) Lady Argos and 3-1 to the University of Montana Western Bulldogs here Friday.
Providence (Mont.) 3, Multnomah 0 (15-25, 16-25, 16-25)
Providence, renamed just this summer from the University of Great Falls, improved to 6-2 on the season while sweeping the Lions, who were playing their first counting match of the season. The Lady Argos hit a blistering .273 (37 kills, 13 errors, 88 attacks) in the three sets combined while holding Multnomah to .000 (27-27-102).
Miranda Halverson had 10 kills to lead the Lions' attack while
Maile Kam added eight, with
Marissa Rhodes passing out 16 assists.
Kayla Keane had nine digs and
Sabrina DeJesus-Bair eight on defense for Multnomah.
Mariah Diaz passed a balanced Providence offense with nine kills and Dani Norling had 25 assists. Zuri Meehan had 10 digs and Isabelle Parker four blocks on defense.
Montana Western 3, Multnomah 1 (11-25, 33-31, 21-25, 16-25)
After dropping the first set, Multnomah evened the match with the Bulldogs by pulling out a thrilling marathon second set 33-31, a set in which they trailed at one point 20-12 and scored five straight points when they were down 24-20. The Lions nearly took the lead in the match before dropping a close third set, and the Bulldogs went to take the fourth set to improve to 3-1 on the season.
Halverson again led the Lions with 14 kills,
Madysen Trout added 11, and
Sydney Amundsen contributed eight. Rhodes handed out 23 assists and Keane 13. DeJesus-Bair made 27 digs, Halverson 12, and Trout, Kam and
Hannah Snyder had three blocks each.
Tessa Miller was the only Bulldogs in double figures in kills with 15, while Kiarra Johnson had 31 assists and Dylan Fowler 32 digs.
Next: Multnomah (0-2) continues play in the Big Sky Challenge Saturday with a 9:00 a.m. (Mountain time) match against Dickinson State University (0-2) and a 1:00 p.m. match against host Montana Tech (1-1).
