BUTTE -- The Montana Tech volleyball team made it a perfect weekend Saturday with a 25-22, 16-25, 25-22, 25-16 win over No. 12-ranked Bellevue inside Valley Bank Arena.
Talan Dodson continued her hot hitting in the victory with a team-best 11 kills, and Kennedy Oman anchored the defense with nine blocks.
The Orediggers (19-5, 14-4 Frontier Conference) began the first set in a dogfight, but a 4-0 Bellevue run that gave the Bruins a 14-11 advantage forced a Montana Tech timeout. Tech continued to trail after the timeout, but a Dodson kill moved the score to 20-16 and sparked a 10-2 Oredigger run that clinched the opening set.
The second was all Bellevue. The Bruins (20-4, 16-2) jumped out to a 16-8 lead and never looked back, taking the set 25-16 to even the match.
Neither team led the third by more than three points before Tech opened up a 22-18 lead with three straight points late in the chapter. Kills by Dodson and Morgan Jones capped off the set and gave the Orediggers the advantage for good.
Montana Tech carried that momentum into the fourth, beginning the set on a 9-4 run. The Oredigger block was strong, delivering seven in the set. Tech extended the lead to 20-11, withstood a late Bellevue challenge and polished the match off with five straight points. Dodson and Oman capped the match off with a block to end it.
A'Lailah Perry led Bellevue with a match-best 15 kills.
The win was Montana Tech's first over a nationally ranked team since October 22 of last year, when the Orediggers topped then-No. 22 Dakota State at home.
It also moved the Tech team to within two games of the first-place Bruins in the Frontier Conference standings. The Orediggers remain a game ahead of third-place Providence, which is 12-5.
Montana Tech will wrap up the home portion of its regular-season schedule with a pair of Frontier matches, starting with Rocky Mountain at 6 p.m. Friday.
Visit Montana Tech athletics' home online, GoDiggers.comFacebook, and follow the Orediggers on X and Instagram at @DiggerAthletics.
This content is sourced from
Montana Technological University
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