Big Sky Volleyball

[nevadacat]

Cats sweep, nay, crush Eastern in straight sets outhitting the Eagles by a factor of three. Emma Pence was back with 12 kills, 6 blocks, and 2 service aces. (Because of her blocking skills my wife calls her “Pence the fence.”). Still missing Kira Thompson who was in street clothes on the bench, but Courtney Weatherby has really come on since the first tournament and made her presence felt with 13 kills and 11 digs. Overall, the ladies looked polished and composed tonight.

[CatBot]

Agree on all points. Watched that match all the way and was really impressed. All the things you mentioned, plus I saw a team that played with enthusiasm and confidence. Really great to see.

[Bobcat4Ever]

Cats sweep, nay, crush Eastern in straight sets outhitting the Eagles by a factor of three. Emma Pence was back with 12 kills, 6 blocks, and 2 service aces. (Because of her blocking skills my wife calls her “Pence the fence.”). Still missing Kira Thompson who was in street clothes on the bench, but Courtney Weatherby has really come on since the first tournament and made her presence felt with 13 kills and 11 digs. Overall, the ladies looked polished and composed tonight.

Thanks for the update. I forgot to tune in. I hope that members of the Eagles football team were there.

[nevadacat]

Cats skin the Bears in 4 sets at UNCU. I only watched the 4th set, after listening to the 3rd set with my face in my hands. (Not good since I was driving at the time.) Missed the first 2 sets. Ladies looked good in the 4th set, much like Thursday. We’re 2-0!

[MSU01]

Cats sweep, nay, crush Eastern in straight sets outhitting the Eagles by a factor of three. Emma Pence was back with 12 kills, 6 blocks, and 2 service aces. (Because of her blocking skills my wife calls her “Pence the fence.”). Still missing Kira Thompson who was in street clothes on the bench, but Courtney Weatherby has really come on since the first tournament and made her presence felt with 13 kills and 11 digs. Overall, the ladies looked polished and composed tonight.

Thanks for the update. I forgot to tune in. I hope that members of the Eagles football team were there.

Ha, I'd say that was unlikely given that the game was played in Bozeman.

Great weekend sweep, I am pleasantly surprised after the rocky non-conference schedule followed by the coaching change. Can't wait for Friday night!

[nevadacat]

Cats sweep, nay, crush Eastern in straight sets outhitting the Eagles by a factor of three. Emma Pence was back with 12 kills, 6 blocks, and 2 service aces. (Because of her blocking skills my wife calls her “Pence the fence.”). Still missing Kira Thompson who was in street clothes on the bench, but Courtney Weatherby has really come on since the first tournament and made her presence felt with 13 kills and 11 digs. Overall, the ladies looked polished and composed tonight.

Thanks for the update. I forgot to tune in. I hope that members of the Eagles football team were there.

Ha, I'd say that was unlikely given that the game was played in Bozeman.

Great weekend sweep, I am pleasantly surprised after the rocky non-conference schedule followed by the coaching change. Can't wait for Friday night!

Speaking of the coaching change, the gal who does our home games on ESPN+ has been referring to Coach Aiazzi as “interim head coach” rather than “acting head coach.” It may be a matter of semantics, but I wonder if Coach Jones’ leave might not be temporary. I hope he and family are alright — he’s done a great job with the program.

[MSU01]

Cats sweep, nay, crush Eastern in straight sets outhitting the Eagles by a factor of three. Emma Pence was back with 12 kills, 6 blocks, and 2 service aces. (Because of her blocking skills my wife calls her “Pence the fence.”). Still missing Kira Thompson who was in street clothes on the bench, but Courtney Weatherby has really come on since the first tournament and made her presence felt with 13 kills and 11 digs. Overall, the ladies looked polished and composed tonight.

Thanks for the update. I forgot to tune in. I hope that members of the Eagles football team were there.

Ha, I'd say that was unlikely given that the game was played in Bozeman.

Great weekend sweep, I am pleasantly surprised after the rocky non-conference schedule followed by the coaching change. Can't wait for Friday night!

Speaking of the coaching change, the gal who does our home games on ESPN+ has been referring to Coach Aiazzi as “interim head coach” rather than “acting head coach.” It may be a matter of semantics, but I wonder if Coach Jones’ leave might not be temporary. I hope he and family are alright — he’s done a great job with the program.

The title of Interim Head Coach seems to make sense in this case, as presumably Coach Jones has completely stepped away from the program and Coach Aiazzi is handling all of the normal head coaching duties. When Bruce Arians won NFL Coach of the Year with the Colts after taking over for Chuck Pagano during his cancer treatments, he also had the title of Interim Head Coach even though Pagano returned the following season.

The acting title is generally used for more temporary situations, such as a Head Coach testing positive for Covid and needing to miss a game or two. The Head Coach is still the Head Coach, he just can't be there on the sidelines so someone else needs to stand in.

Whether Coach Jones returns or this is a prelude to a permanent coaching change after the season does seem very much up in the air.

[nevadacat]

Another weak performance in Portland. Maybe not as bad as the gris game, but 12 service errors and our best player hitting 0.050 doesn’t bode well.

Match ended on a point reversal on a challenge from the PSU coach who had no challenges left. Probably didn’t impact the final outcome, but shows that our volleyball refs aren’t much better than football

[tetoncat]

Had high hopes with who returned and the new additions. Hopefully they can turn it around and make a run as the season unfolds

[Bobcat4Ever]

Had high hopes with who returned and the new additions. Hopefully they can turn it around and make a run as the season unfolds

For sure. Since Dave Gantt stepped down, volleyball has been a high drama sport. It finally had seemed to turn the corner, and I really was starting to get my hopes up for the first time in a long time. I hope they can get it sorted out again — there’s no reason volleyball cannot join the basketballs and football as a top-flight team.

[CatBot]

Anyone watching this? UNCUCNCUN v Bobcats, and it's a good one. The 4th set was lit. On to the 5th. I really want this interim coach to take this team on a nice run. When this team is on, they look invincible.

[DMMDCats]

Nice three set victory tonight vs NAU.

Only saw the last couple points but why does the announcer root for the opponent?

[nevadacat]

Wow! Volleyball sweeps Idaho 25-22, 25-16, 25-22. Lest you think it a cakewalk, the Cats were down in the third set 20-10! Amazing comeback. Now 0.500 in Big Sky. Iggles tomorrow.

[CatBot]

That's more like it. Volleyball sweeps Idaho on the road and sends a message to the rest of the conference. After going up 2 sets to 0, they fell behind 10-20 in the 3rd. Just when I was thinking the all familiar script was about to play out again, none other than Kira Thomsen takes over. Completely takes over. Cats end up on a 15-2 run and take the 3rd set 25-22. This team moves to 4-4 in conference and could easily surge from here.

[nevadacat]

Volleyball is a team sport. That much was demonstrated last night. Both the Cats and the Iggles played tough, back-and-forth, nail-biting volleyball. The match was punctuated by not just the length of the some of the rallies, but by the number of long rallies, many lasting what seemed like several minutes. In the end, EWU came out on top because they made less errors than we did. Kira Thomsen and Jourdain Klein had amazing performances with 24 and 23 kills, respectively, but they couldn't carry the team to victory. Take away their production and the rest of the team hit a lackluster 0.054. That ain't gonna cut it, even against a middling team like EWU.

Sac State and #1 Portland State next week in Shroyer for the last home games of the season.

[CatBot]

Volleyball is a team sport. That much was demonstrated last night. Both the Cats and the Iggles played tough, back-and-forth, nail-biting volleyball. The match was punctuated by not just the length of the some of the rallies, but by the number of long rallies, many lasting what seemed like several minutes. In the end, EWU came out on top because they made less errors than we did. Kira Thomsen and Jourdain Klein had amazing performances with 24 and 23 kills, respectively, but they couldn't carry the team to victory. Take away their production and the rest of the team hit a lackluster 0.054. That ain't gonna cut it, even against a middling team like EWU.

Sac State and #1 Portland State next week in Shroyer for the last home games of the season.

Not sure I agree with this, which as a side note, is awesome. Debating something, or anything, on a volleyball thread is pretty cool imo.

I saw plenty of offense to win the game. I think the errors and lackluster defense cost the Cats the win. For whatever reason, the blocking prowess seems to have taken a step back this year compared to last year. Not sure why. Pense is still there, but less effective for some reason.

Anybody else want to weigh in?

[CatBot]

Rock solid performance in all phases last night against a decent 7-4 SAC team (now 7-5). This season is far from over. The top of the conference has shown vulnerability at times all season, the Cats can still gain a 4/5 seed if they go on a run. Plus the "long possession" of the Main Line and the associated Brawl point are still up for grabs. Lots and lots to play for.

[Joe Bobcat]

Lady Cat volleyball just beat PSU in a tough 5 set match! Way to go Ladies nice way to celebrate senior day for the one and only senior on the team! It was also the last home match for this season. Next match is in Missoula against the Gris Friday night with a point in the brawl of the wild series up for grabs.

[nevadacat]

Lady Cat volleyball just beat PSU in a tough 5 set match! Way to go Ladies nice way to celebrate senior day for the one and only senior on the team! It was also the last home match for this season. Next match is in Missoula against the Gris Friday night with a point in the brawl of the wild series up for grabs.

Ladies showed a lot of grit last night. PSU was at match point in that 4th set and the Cats fought back to take it away, carrying that momentum to set 5. Kira Thomsen was on fire and had the game of her career.

[BobcatDel]

Lady Cat volleyball just beat PSU in a tough 5 set match! Way to go Ladies nice way to celebrate senior day for the one and only senior on the team! It was also the last home match for this season. Next match is in Missoula against the Gris Friday night with a point in the brawl of the wild series up for grabs.

Ladies showed a lot of grit last night. PSU was at match point in that 4th set and the Cats fought back to take it away, carrying that momentum to set 5. Kira Thomsen was on fire and had the game of her career.