BUTTE, MT – No. 24 Northwest University volleyball (3-5, overall) wrapped up their time in the Big Sky Challenge, competing against two very difficult teams. Montana Tech fell behind early in the first match but rebounded to take the next 3 matches (25-10, 19-25, 15-25, 13-25). Rocky Mountain's dominating performance shut out the Eagles in 3 matches (13-25, 16-25, 20-25).

Match 1: Northwest University 1, Montana Tech 3
Montana Tech was led by Masha Korol, with 14 kills and a .353 hitting percentage. Heather Thompson also played a major role, leading the team in blocks (4), 8 kills, and a .700 hitting percentage. In all of the games Montana won, they had a minimum 5-0 point run to spread out the score. Northwest University was unable to close the gap in every game.

Northwest University got off to a great start, winning the first game 25-10. Then the tides quickly changed, and the Eagles had no answer to get back in the game. Courteney Carr led the Eagles with 22 assists. Cristina Hegarty picked up 17 digs, and Keann White led the team with 6 kills.

Head Coach Steven Bain commented, "Montana Tech is a solid team, and we had success early from the service line, which allowed us to keep them out of system. They clearly adjusted, though, and once they were in system, we had no answer for their offense. On our side of the net, we were limited in our own options due to some untimely injuries to Sienna Alvarez and Hannah Michaels, but our ladies battled and continue to grow with each competitive experience."
 
 
Match 2: Northwest University 0, Rocky Mountain 3
Rocky Mountain College spread out their offense with Hailey Copinga and Olivia L'Ami each having 10 kills. Daniella Russell was right behind them with 9 kills. Rocky Mountain played a clean first game, only having 1 error, compared to Northwest's 8 errors. Rocky Mountain also had a hitting percentage as a team of 0.444, while Northwest University was 0.029 percent.

Northwest University Eagles hung with Rocky Mountain College in all three games until the 10-point mark (9-10, 9-11, 8-10). At the 10-point benchmark, Rocky Mountain College made their move. Hannah Lord led Northwest University with 8 kills. Audrey Saelens and Abigail Broussard brought in 7 kills for the Eagles. Audrey Saelens also contributed with 3 blocks. 

Head Coach Steven Bain stated, "We had an opportunity to watch Rocky Mountain play in California last week, so we knew that they were a strong team. We struggled to sustain anything offensively against their relentless defense, and I am sure they will be a team to reckon with in the Frontier Conference. Even though the match didn't go our way, our young team showed some resilience and played with a high level of energy."