MISSOULA, Mont. – Marija Vojnovic turned in her seventh double-double of the season and first-place Portland State used a consistent offensive attack all night to sweep Montana (25-20, 25-23, 25-22) in Big Sky Conference play on Friday.
Vojnovic tied with teammate
Whitney Phillips for the match-high in kills with 12, and also turned in 10 digs. The Vikings hit over .290 in all three sets and finished with a .296 attack percentage while limiting the Lady Griz to just a .160 mark.
The Vikings opened up the evening by hitting .300, and then followed that up with a .293 percentage in set two and a .294 mark in the final frame.
Christie Hamilton (.643),
Nique Fradella (.857) and Vojnovic (.300) all had stellar hitting nights for PSU. Hamilton finished with nine kills and had no errors on 14 attempts, while Fradella tallied six kills with no errors on seven attacks. Fradella also dished out a match-best 38 assists.
Nicole Bateham led the Viks with 18 digs, while
Diana Villalpando chipped in nine more. Portland State finished with 53 digs to Montana's 45.
Jaimie Thibeault paced Montana (9-12) with 10 kills and a .381 hitting percentage, and Brittney Brown finished with 19 digs.
The win was Portland State's fourth in a row overall, all of which have been sweeps, and was also the Vikings ninth straight victory over Montana.
Portland State (15-7) remains in a three-way tie for first in the Big Sky with Eastern Washington and Northern Colorado. EWU and the Vikings are 9-2, while UNC is technically one-half game back at 8-2. The Vikings now travel east on I-90 to play at Montana State tomorrow night. First serve is set for 6 p.m. PT.
MATCH NOTES: PSU outblocked Montana, 8.0-6.0, with
Erica Jepsen tallying seven total blocks ... The Vikings are hitting .350 over their past four matches, while their opponents have hit just .181.
Photo Credit: Steve Brenner
