California Baptist University
2-4,0-0WAC
Montana State University
5-1,0-0Big Sky
CBU Closes Out Tommie Invitational Against Montana State
9/2/2023 2:19:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
ST. PAUL--- In the final game of the Tommie Invitational, the California Baptist University volleyball team dropped a tightly contested match 3-1 to Montana State.
The Bobcats entered the match with a 4-1 record, including wins over Oregon State and St. Thomas. The Lancers came in with a 2-3 record, defeating Cal State Northridge and Milwaukee for their pair of wins.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
CBU started strong with a 25-21 victory in the opening set over the Bobcats. The team's leading attacker, Michalina Rola, racked up five kills in the set and started the offense off strong. From there, the Bobcats held off multiple Lancers runs in the ensuing sets and pulled out three straight two-point wins to clinch the victory.
The third set, in particular, was a back-and-forth battle that had to be decided with extra points. The Bobcats put the Lancers on the brink of defeat three times, and CBU did the same to Montana State twice, but in the end, the Big Sky squad came away with the 29-27 victory to take the set. The set marked the fifth of the season that went to overtime, with the Lancers coming up short in four of them.
STATISTICAL NOTABLES:
As a team, CBU won the kill war with 63 for the Lancers compared to 60 for the Bobcats. The two key categories for the Lancers were in the blocking and attack percentage departments, where Montana State held a sizable advantage. Outside of those two areas, CBU and Montana State were nearly identical in the other major categories, including the assist and dig battle, in which they mirrored one another with 58 and 82 apiece, respectively.
The Lancers had three players in double-figures in the kills category, led again by Michalina Rola, who had 18 to pair with 15 digs. The double-double performance by Rola made it six straight to begin 2023. Catherine Krieger finished a strong tournament with a 16-kill, 9-dig outing to bring her total to 42 kills and 35 digs in the three matches. Laura Walewska was the final Lancer to reach double-digit kills with ten on a .429 attack percentage.
The setter duo of Leah Pease and freshman Maddie Brown combined for 50 assists and 27 digs, with both athletes recording double-doubles for the first time this season.
NEXT:
The Lancers will be home for the first time in 2023, with the CBU-UCR tournament producing two home matches. The first will be against Nevada on Friday, September 8th, at 6 p.m.
