Former Bulldogs making noise at the college level

BOZEMAN, Mont. —  Beaten badly in the first two sets, the Montana volleyball team rose up and rallied for a five-set win at Montana State Monday night to give the Grizzlies their first two-match winning streak of the season and their seventh straight win over the Bobcats in Bozeman.

Montana State had 18 more kills than Montana while winning the opening two sets, 25-16, 25-17, but the Grizzlies mostly matched the Bobcats offensively the rest of the match and had the superior defense to take the final three sets, 25-20, 26-24, 15-10.

“I’m just thrilled. This is as proud of a team as I’ve ever been,” said UM coach Jerry Wagner, who improved to 12-1 against Montana State. “I loved the mental toughness this team showed tonight. I think they are starting to believe that we can be a pretty good team.”

Former Sandpoint player Kortney James sparked the Grizzlies with a kill at 10-10 in the third set, and they never looked back. James finished with 47 assists and nine digs, after posting 42 assists and 15 digs in the win over Sacramento State.

The win moves Montana (5-14, 3-7 BSC) into a tie for eighth at the midway point of the Big Sky Conference schedule, and more important within two games of sixth place, the cutoff to make next month’s Big Sky tournament.

Montana will host North Dakota (10-11, 5-5 BSC) Friday at 7 p.m. and Northern Colorado (14-5, 7-3 BSC) Saturday at 7 p.m. at the West Auxiliary Gym. The Grizzlies lost to UND earlier this season in straight sets and to the Bears in four sets.