During a short road trip to the Treasure State, the Southern Utah University volleyball team pushed both the University of Montana and Montana State University to four sets on Thursday, Oct. 15, and Saturday, Oct. 17. Despite some of the best performances by the T-Birds all year, they came away from both matches with 3-1 losses.
SUU holds a 1-17 record on the year and is winless through eight conference matches. They’re on a nine-game losing streak. Their lone win this year came against Chicago State University, who also have a 1-17 record this year.
Montana has posted a 6-13 record this season and has gone 2-6 in conference play. It’s a far cry from last year, where the Lady Griz went a respectable 17-11.
Montana State holds a strong 12-7 record this year and has gone 5-3 in conference play. They’re currently tied for No. 4 in the Big Sky Conference standings.
First match
After recording a season-high 14 kills against Weber State University, Emilia Zug continued to shine against the Grizzlies. The junior from Kołowbrzeg, Poland, led the T-Birds with 11 kills and a 32.1% hitting percentage. She also had two block assists and just two errors.
Ryen Smith and Audrey Atwood also heavily contributed. Smith posted 10 kills, five digs, a service ace and a block assist. Atwood notched 10 digs and nine kills of her own. 73% of SUU’s kills in this match were recorded by Zug, Smith and Atwood.
Talea Berry was a huge help on the support side. She led the team with 20 assists and dove for nine digs.
After narrowly losing the first set by six points, SUU took the second 25-22. They took advantage of mistakes by Montana, as the Lady Griz had 12 kills and seven attacking errors that set. They would go on to lose the third set by 11 points and the fourth by eight points.
Second match
SUU’s bout with Montana State was one of their most impressive all season. With two extended sets, the team recorded 41 kills in the second and fourth frames combined. That’s the same amount they had in the entire previous match.
After losing the first set by nine points, Southern Utah went all-out in the second to win 28-26. Following another 25-16 loss in the third set, SUU cranked up the intensity and had their most efficient offense of the night in the fourth.
SUU hit .286 in the fourth set as the Bobcats only hit .167. The frame went on for a while as SUU battled to the end, eventually losing the set and match by a score of 33-31.
Four Thunderbirds posted double-digit kills. Atwood had 14 kills on .324 hitting, along with six digs, an ace and a block assist. Natalie Moore had 10 kills and led the team hitting .429, with just one error on 21 attempts. Smith contributed 12 kills and five digs. Zug had her third straight match with double-digit kills, supplying 11 on top of five digs and three block assists.
Improving on her performance against Montana, Berry had a double-double with 21 assists and 11 digs. She and Celeste Urueña Jensen combined for 80% of SUU’s assists.
Up next
SUU will return to Cedar City for a one-game homestand. They’ll take on Eastern Washington University on Thursday, Oct. 22, at 6:30 p.m. in the America First Event Center. The match will be streamed live on ESPN+.
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Author: Payson Davis
Photo by SUU Athletics
Editor: Charlee Steed
sports@suunews.net
