The Basics
Score: Montana Western 3 – Valley City State University 0  (25-21, 25-19, 25-14)
Record: UMW (1-1), VCSU (0-1)
Location: Butte Civic Center - Butte, Mont. 

The Bulldogs opened the Big Sky Volleyball Challenge with a dominating straight set victory over Valley City State University Thursday night. The win was head coach Katie Lovett's first career collegiate win. The Bulldogs hit . 272 as team and held the Vikings to just .027 behind a strong offensive attack and solid defense. The first set was back-and-forth as the two teams battled until three straight points late in the set gave the Bulldogs the momentum they needed to pull away with the 25-21 win. The second set followed suit until a kill by Abbee Croninger sparked a four point rally late to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead. The Bulldogs weren't messing around in the third set as five point rally early on set the tone and UMW never looked back, easily dispatching VCSU 25-14.

Individual Leaders
Abbee Croninger recorded a .556 hitting percentage.
Madison Richtmyer had 17 assists and five digs. 
Emmah Peterson had a .500 hitting percentage and six blocks. 
Morgan Stenger had a team-high nine kills. 
Cady Siemion had 18 digs and six kills. 
Caitlyn Fischbach had nine kills and a . 533 hitting percentage for the Vikings. 
Reagan Ingstad recorded 10 digs and nine assists. 
 

Inside the Box Score

• The Bulldogs totaled 20 blocks, led by Abby Morgan (seven) and Peterson (six).
• The Bulldogs had three players total double digit digs. 
• This was the first meeting between the two schools. 

Coach Lovett's Thoughts
"We communicated really well tonight. We played hard and didn't get ourselves stuck in a rut."

Up Next

The Bulldogs will play a double header on Friday, Aug. 23 against Olivet Nazarene at 11 a.m. and against Bethel College at 5 p.m. Both games will take place at the Butte Civic Center.