GREELEY, Colo. — Kira Thomsen had a match-high 13 kills Wednesday to lead a steady Montana State attack in a 25-20, 25-21, 25-21 sweep of rival Montana at the Big Sky Conference volleyball tournament at Bank of Colorado Arena.
The win sends No. 3-seeded Montana State (20-7) into the tournament semifinals, where it will face No. 7 seed Eastern Washington, which upset No. 2 Northern Colorado in five sets, on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Jourdain Kamps and Camryn Greenwald each had nine kills for the Bobcats, who hit .395 overall with 45 total kills against Montana. Nellie Stevenson dished out 35 assists and Shayla Webber had a team high nine digs for MSU.
“Our passing gave us a lot of options,” MSU coach Matt Houk stated in a press release. “Our hitters took their shots, and when the shots weren’t there, they hit a shot that kept us in the rally and allowed us to eventually score points.”
The No. 6-seeded Grizzlies were led by Madi Chuhlantseff and Maddie Kremer, who each had 10 kills. UM hit .326 for the match, with Paige Clark added eight kills. Montana finished its season with an 11-18 overall record.
“Montana played well and there was a super thin line with the margins,” Houk said. “But I thought our service game did just enough to knock them out of system. We were able to control our technique and we were seeing the things we wanted to take.”
Earlier Wednesday, top-seeded Sacramento State swept No. 8 Idaho State while No. 4 Weber State swept No. 5 Portland State. Sac State and Weber State will meet in the other semifinal on Thursday at 4 p.m.
