Rocky Mountain College had a big week across the Frontier Conference's fall sports schedule, earning wins in football, volleyball, golf and cross country. The Battlin' Bears headline this week's Frontier Conference notebook.
Volleyball
The Frontier Conference volleyball courts were light on action last week, with only three matches. UM Western, Montana Tech and Rocky defeated MSU-Northern, Providence and Carroll, respectively.
In Rocky's 25-18, 20-25, 25-20, 29-27 win over Carroll, Rhiannon Nez registered a career-high 18 kills for the Battlin' Bears. She also contributed three digs and five blocks. Nez, who leads the Frontier in hitting percentage (.300) and blocks per set (1.12), was named the league's attacker of the week on Monday, while teammates Blythe Sealey and Brooke Ark were named the setter and defender of the week, respectively.
Sealey tallied 47 assists and 17 digs against the Fighting Saints. She averages a Frontier-best 10.00 assists per set this season.
Ark set a new career high with 48 digs against Carroll. She currently leads the NAIA with 672 digs while ranking second at 6.72 digs per set.
Last week:
UM Western def. MSU-Northern 25-10, 23-25, 25-19, 25-12
Montana Tech def. Providence 25-21, 25-21, 29-27
Rocky Mountain def. Carroll 25-18, 20-25, 25-20, 29-27
Up next:
Carroll at UM Western, 7 p.m. Wednesday
Montana Tech at MSU-Northern, 7 p.m. Thursday
Carroll at Providence, 7 p.m. Friday
UM Western at Rocky Mountain, 7 p.m. Friday
MSU-Northern at Providence, 6 p.m. Saturday
Montana Tech at Rocky Mountain, 6 p.m. Saturday
Golf
Tyler Avery of Montana Tech and Valentina Zuleta of Rocky Mountain won the individual titles at the Yellowjacket Fall Invitational at Lake Hills Golf Course in Billings last week. Rocky Mountain swept the team titles.
Avery carded a 54-hole total of 209 (-7) to take the men's individual medalist honors, while Zuleta shot an even-par 144 over 36 holes to win the women's title. Avery and Zuleta were named the Frontier Conference golfers of the week on Monday.
Up next:
Rocky Mountain closes out its fall golf season at the Firestorm Invitational at Buckeye, Ariz., Nov. 7-8. The Carroll, MSU-Northern, Montana Tech and Providence golf teams are done until the spring.
Cross country
Jackson Wilson continued his tremendous season for Rocky Mountain last week, claiming the individual title in the men's 8K at the NAIA Great Lakes Challenge at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Mich. He crossed the finish line in 24 minutes, 37.20 seconds, finishing nearly 9 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.
Wilson helped the Battlin' Bears to an eighth-place team finish, one spot behind Montana Tech. The Orediggers, paced by Justin Morgan in 13th place and Edwin Kipainoi in 16th, were the highest-finishing Frontier Conference team in the field of 27 teams. View complete men's results.
Carlin Manning of Montana Tech led the Frontier Conference runners in the women's 5K at the Great Lakes Challenge, placing fifth with a time of 18:36.50. Carroll was the best-finishing Frontier team on the women's side. The Fighting Saints were fifth, with Isabelle Ruff placing ninth individually. View complete women's results.
Wilson and Manning were named the Frontier Conference runners of the week on Monday.
UM Western's runners also competed at the John Elders Titan Invite in Fullerton, Calif., last week. Olivia Heiner led the Bulldogs, finishing the women's 5K in 19:34.0 to place 56th out of 140 runners. Brant Heiner paced the Bulldog men, placing 66th with a time of 26:32.8 in the men's 8K.
Up next:
The cross country teams are off this weekend before competing at the Frontier Conference championship in Great Falls on Nov. 3.
Football
After helping Rocky Mountain upset Montana Tech last week, Battlin' Bears Graedyn Buell and John Aragon were named the Frontier Conference offensive and defensive players of the week on Monday.
Buell, in his second start at quarterback, tallied 400 total yards in the win. He had 265 yards and three touchdowns passing and 135 yards and one touchdown rushing. The 135 yards were the most by a Rocky player in a single game this season. The NAIA named Buell the national offensive player of the week on Monday.
Aragon keyed a strong performance for the Battlin' Bear defense, recording two sacks, three tackles-for-loss and a forced fumble.
UM Western's John Mears was named the special teams player of the week after connecting on both of his field goal attempts and all four point-after tries in the Bulldogs' 34-30 win at Arizona Christian. Mears booted through a 50-yard field goal, the longest in the Frontier this season and one of only seven makes from 50-plus yards in the entire NAIA this season.
Last week:
College of Idaho 35, Carroll 21
Rocky Mountain 28, Montana Tech 21
Southern Oregon 42, MSU-Northern 13
Montana Western 34, Arizona Christian 30
Up next:
Arizona Christian at Montana Tech, 1 p.m. Saturday
MSU-Northern at UM Western, 1 p.m. Saturday
Eastern Oregon at College of Idaho, 1 p.m. Saturday
Carroll at Southern Oregon, 2 p.m. Saturday
Soccer (Cascade Collegiate Conference)
The Carroll men's soccer team secured a berth in the Cascade Collegiate Conference postseason tournament with a 5-1 win over Northwest last week.
Enrico Paparelli scored the only goal of the first half to give the Fighting Saints a 1-0 lead at intermission. Ryan Quinn scored two second-half goals, and Michal Mojzis and Migelangel Kerry each added one.
Carroll, which also played to a 1-1 draw with Evergreen State last week, closes out its regular season at Providence on Friday.
The Carroll women, meanwhile, had another strong weekend. The Fighting Saints defeated Evergreen State 3-0 and earned a 1-1 draw against Northwest.
Senior forward Emily Funseth was again named the CCC's women’s soccer offensive player of the week after scoring a goal in each match on the weekend.
Last week:
Men
Multnomah 5, Rocky Mountain 0
Carroll 1, Evergreen State 1
Providence 5, Northwest University 2
Carroll 5, Northwest University 1
Evergreen State 2, Providence 1
Warner Pacific 4, Rocky Mountain 1
Women
Multnomah 1, Rocky Mountain 0
Carroll 3, Evergreen State 0
Northwest University 1, Providence 0
Carroll 1, Northwest University 1
Providence 0, Evergreen State 0
Rocky Mountain 1, Warner Pacific 1
Up next:
Men
Bushnell at Rocky Mountain, 1 p.m. Friday
Carroll at Providence, 1 p.m. Friday
Corban at Rocky Mountain, 1 p.m. Sunday
Women
Bushnell at Rocky Mountain, 3:30 p.m. Friday
Carroll at Providence, 3:30 p.m. Friday
Corban at Rocky Mountain, 3:30 p.m. Sunday
