HAVRE — Providence won the Frontier Conference volleyball tournament championship the hard way Saturday, coming back from down two sets to beat Montana Western in five.
The Argos, the league's regular-season champions, rallied for a 19-25, 18-25, 26-24, 25-9, 15-11 win to capture their fifth tourney title in the past six years. Providence is back on top a year after Rocky took the title to snap the Argo's four-year championship streak.
In the third set, Western led by scores of 16-11, 17-13 and 18-14, but Providence stayed alive and ultimately forced a fourth set with kills by Cabry Taylor and Bella Thompson. The Argos then jumped out to a huge lead to take the fourth, then the fifth set saw UP take command and close the match on another kill by Taylor.
Ryann Eddins led the Argos with 13 kills while Bella Green added 11. Thompson had 47 assists, and Ava Saiers led the way defensively with 32 digs.
Jazi Smith had a match-high 16 kills to lead the Bulldogs, followed by Danyel Martin's 12. Taylor Peterson had 24 assists and Kaylee Fritz added 19, while Madisyn Frazier, Kelsey Goddard and Smith led in digs with 25, 23 and 23, respectively.
The NAIA national volleyball tournament begins next Saturday at campus sites.
