Trojans Drop a Pair of Tightly Contested Matches Against Top-Ten Opponents

BUTTE, Mont. – RV Taylor (5-3) dropped a pair of closely contested matches to two top-ten programs on Saturday to close out the Big Sky Challenge.

Ellie Frey continued her terrific debut season in purple and gray, notching 19 kills in each match and hitting a combined .312 across seven sets. McKaylah Flagle added 33 digs for over 4.5 digs/set in an impressive display for the senior libero.

Taylor began the day taking a hotly contested first set against No. 5 Eastern Oregon. After trailing 8-3 in the early going, a Reagan Salzbrenner kill followed by a block from Alexa Mader and Shaye Watson sparked a 4-0 run to get TU within one.

Neither team could get any separation throughout most of the set, until consecutive kills by Frey sparked a 6-1 run from Taylor to close out the set as Suzanne Story closed the door with an ace to finish off the Mountaineers.

A game of runs highlighted the second set as Eastern Oregon scored the first five points, followed by Taylor taking the next seven. The Mountaineers then converted six straight and held the lead until a tie at 19.

The Trojans were unable to complete the comeback as Eastern Oregon (4-0) took the next four points and closed it out at 25-21.

The third frame was close until the Mountaineers used a 7-0 run to gain separation, and despite cutting the lead to two, Taylor could not complete the comeback and fell behind.

The Trojans began the fourth on a 4-0 run and held the lead the majority of the set, with the teams staring down a decisive fifth. Unfortunately, Eastern Oregon went on a 4-0 run to take the lead late and scored four of the final five points to close the match at 25-22.

RV Taylor then fell in straight sets to No. 10 Providence (2-1) to finish out the Big Sky Challenge on Saturday evening.

The first set got away from Taylor in the midgame before beginning the second set, leading 8-2 before a Providence run cut the lead to one. The Spartans stayed close and rattled off five of the final seven points to take set two.

An early hole in set three forced Taylor to play from behind, and eventually they knotted the score at 23 on Frey's second ace of the match, but the Spartans took the final two points to complete the sweep.

The Trojans head back home to host the Amber McClure Fayerweather Memorial Tournament beginning Friday, August 29, as the Trojans host Pikeville (0-2) at 11:00 am in the opening match.