MISSOULA — The Montana Grizzlies volleyball program topped rival Montana State 3-1 on Friday evening at Dahlberg Arena, as the Grizzlies earned the regular season sweep of the Bobcats and again kept hold of the Main Line Trophy.
Paige Clark led the way for UM with 15 kills while Catie Semadeni added 13 and Ellie Scherffius tallied 10 in the win. The Grizzlies won 25-15, 27-25, 22-25, 25-15.
After a back-and-forth first set, Montana scored eight straight points to put the set away.
The second set went down to the wire. After Kira Thomsen tied it 25-25, Jackie Howell got a kill for Montana, and Semadeni and Elise Jolly blocked Thomsen's next kill attempt to make it 2-0 Griz.
The Bobcats bounced back in the third set to stay alive. Thomsen finished with 18 kills to lead the game while Jourdain Klein added nine for MSU.
In the fourth set UM ran away with the game, as Montana built a 16-6 advantage and never looked back. After the Bobcats scored three straight points to earn some momentum, Alicia Wallingford earned the final kill to give the Grizzlies the win, their third straight over the Bobcats.
The Griz improved to 16-10 overall and 9-5 in Big Sky Conference play with the win, while MSU dropped to 11-15 and 7-7.
