Bobcat volleyball drops three straight

The Bobcat volleyball team hosted the Bobcat Classic this past weekend, featuring Arkansas, Portland and Utah State. Although the Cats went 0-3 in the tournament, they battled hard, taking two of the matches to five sets.

In the tournament opener, the Cats faced Arkansas. The Bobcats won the first two sets only to drop three straight to the Razorbacks hailing from the Southeastern Conference (25-21, 28-26, 19-25, 19-25, 7-15). This marks the second consecutive matchup with the Razorbacks that the Cats led 2-0 only to go on and lose the match.

“Our game fell apart in every facet in sets three, four and five,” MSU head coach Daniel Jones said. “It was technical, tactical and mental. We backed off from the service line and they started serving tough. Our passing broke down and we weren’t able to get back to playing our style of ball.”

Montana State was led by senior outside hitter Hannah Scott in kills. Scott notched 15 kills in the match. Senior libero Libby Christensen got herself on the score sheet, registering 16 digs.

Looking to bounce back against Portland, the Cats ended up losing the match 1-3 (23-25, 20-25, 25-20, 21-25). The Cats were led by sophomore outside hitter Kira Thomsen, who recorded 18 kills, followed by Scott, who recorded 15 kills of her own. Despite the loss, there was cause for celebration as Scott recorded her 1,000th kill while wearing the Blue and Gold. Scott is now the 16th member of the 1,000 point club.

Despite the loss, Jones sees the match as an opportunity for his team to grow. “We grow at the edge of our abilities and outside of our comfort zone,” Jones said. “Arkansas and Portland have taken us to that place for two consecutive nights. We have an opportunity to grow.”

In the tournament finale, the Cats battled it out against the Utah State Aggies. Their match against the Aggies proved to be the Cats’ best despite the loss. The match took five sets to determine a winner in a back-and-forth affair (25-19, 19-25, 22-25, 25-21, 9-15).

“We’re playing good volleyball, but we’re breaking down under pressure,” Jones said. “We’ll be addressing that in practice this week. We need to find some toughness and stay focused under pressure.”

Jones offered his post-tournament thoughts following the loss to the Aggies, commenting on the tough out-of-conference schedule the Cats face. “We’re putting up good numbers, but have come up on the wrong side of three five-set matches,” Jones said. “We’re learning and growing. We deliberately scheduled a tough non-conference to prepare us for the Big Sky Conference season, and it’s doing exactly that and giving us what we need.”

The Cats will look to end their three-game skid when they play in the North Texas Invitational. The team will travel to Denton, Texas, for a three-match tournament featuring teams from Abilene Christian, North Texas and Jackson State. The first match against Abilene Christian is set to start on Friday, Nov. 10, at 1 p.m. For a complete schedule and updates on the team visit msubobcats.com/sports/womens-volleyball/schedule or follow the team on social media @MSUBobcatsVB.