Northern Colorado defeats Montana in commanding sweep to close road trip

Get out the brooms, as a result of the College of Northern Colorado picked up a dominant win in opposition to the opposite Bears.

UNC (10-8, 4-3 Massive Sky) defeated Montana (11-8, 4-3 Massive Sky) in three units on Saturday and it wasn’t even shut. Northern Colorado out-scored Montana, 75-39, throughout the three frames (25-14, 25-17, 25-8).

The Bears managed the sport, minus a brief interval within the second set, behind clear hitting and big blocks.

They completed simply shy of a .400 assault share, recording 48 kills and simply 9 errors. Three gamers every tabbed two service aces.

UNC’s greatest set was the third. Whereas the Griz ended up with 14 assault errors, a lot of the Bears’ factors had been from glorious hitting. They recorded 17 kills and simply two errors for a .484 hitting share. That was as excessive as .700 when the staff had eight kills and one error on simply 10 assaults.

“This was a whole effort by our staff. We haven’t performed at this entire in a very long time, so it was good to see it come collectively tonight,” stated UNC coach Lyndsey Oates. “I believed we had been aggressive. Our solely errors got here as aggressive errors, as an alternative of passive errors.”

Sophomore Maddie Davies led the staff with 14 kills – a brand new profession excessive – on a large .778 hitting share. She contributed three blocks, as properly.

This comes simply days after her then-career excessive night time on Thursday when she picked up 13 kills on a .750 assault price.

Within the final three video games, Davies has recorded extra kills than she did all of her freshman season.

Graduate scholar Kailey Jo Ince and senior Rachel Hickman additionally tabbed double digits within the kill column.

“Maddie put up an enormous night time offensively,” Oates stated. “We’d like her to maintain doing that to offer us stability. Our staff is absolutely centered on our pin hitters, so when she’s scoring like that, it makes us troublesome to defend.”

Oates praised the serve-receive effort, as properly. Junior Syd Cole recorded 37 assists for her setting, which led to nice hitting alternatives. Cole added seven digs and two blocks.

UNC’s protection was additionally glorious. Senior Cece Huhn led the staff with 4 blocks, together with a block solo, whereas fellow senior Michaela Boon was accountable for 11 digs.

Sophomore Annette Baker, who has stepped right into a defensive specialist function, performed a major half, too. She completed with eight digs, one in every of which got here within the first set to maintain the ball dwell, and plenty of receptions.

“Actually happy with our effort tonight,” Oates stated. “We made some nice saves on scramble performs and on typical performs the place we’re possibly giving up too early, and we fought by means of factors tonight and outworked (Montana).”

The one time the Griz actually threatened was within the second set. They took an early lead, going up by two factors just a few occasions, however the Bears responded in dramatic style. With Montana up 8-6, UNC went on a 10-1 run to take a 16-9 lead. Northern Colorado by no means gave that lead again up.

UNC will likely be again house at 6 p.m. Thursday to face Idaho.