University of Northern Colorado Athletics
University of Northern Colorado
8-7, 1-2Big Sky
Montana State
3-12, 0-3Big sky
Volleyball Sweeps Way to First Conference Win
10/3/2014 1:58:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Northern Colorado's offense was on fire against Montana State, helping the volleyball team earn their first road and Conference win of the year 25-15, 25-15, 25-12
BOZEMAN, Mont. – An impressive offensive attacked helped lead Northern Colorado volleyball to its first road win and conference win on the season over Montana State with a sweep (25-15,25-15, 25-12).
The Bears hit .398 on the night (46-7-98), with their worst set hitting being a mark of .333. For a remarkable second match in a row the team had a player hit above .700. This time it was senior middle blocker Andrea Spaustat at .733 with a team-leading 11 kills. Last Saturday it wasTimarie Nymeyer hitting .720.
To go along with Spaustat's outstanding hitting percentage, Kim Weissman, Alex Klohen andAshley Guthrie all hit above .350 for the night. Weissmann finished at .421 with 9 kills and only one error. Kloehn set a career-high in kills with seven and hit .600 for the night. Meanwhile, Guthrie not only set up the offense with 40 assists, but she also added in five kills of her own on the night.
It was not just the offense that won the match for the Bears, though, as the defense was there as well, with 11 total blocks. Middle blockers Spaustat and Kloehn combined for half of the block assists. The blocking helped lead to a low hitting percentage for the Bobcats, who hit just above .100.
"Our biggest goal going into the match was to play better defense than we had last weekend," head coach Lyndsey Oates said. "I thought we did that, and with four service aces we served very effective tonight. We blocked well, with 11 team blocks. To sweep that match was very good for us."
UNC used an 11-3 run to start the match to set the tone for the night. The run was aided by solid serving by Kendra Cunningham and Spaustat. The set also set up Spaustat for the rest of the night, putting down four kills and hitting .800 in the set.
An early run gave the Bears the second set, as well. Trailing 5-2 in the set, UNC went on an 8-1 run to take a 10-6 lead and never looked back. Weissmann led the team in the set with five kills and helped the Bears achieve a match-high .455 hitting percentage for the set.
The intermission did not have an effect on the team slowing them, as the Bears came out on a 7-1 run to start the third set. The Bears hit .400 in the set, committing only two errors in 35 attempts.
Northern Colorado has a quick turnaround now, playing again at 7 p.m. tomorrow in Missoula, Mont. against the Montana Grizzlies.
