Montana Tech Volleyball opened their conference schedule with two losses this past weekend. With veterans still out on injury, the young Lady Diggers dropped six games to Great Falls and Montana State Northern.

On Friday night, the Great Falls Argos volleyball dominated the Lady Diggers behind a strong front line of Kelsey VanUden and Taylor Lucero. They each had ten and nine kills respectively. VanUden, a 6'2” junior outside hitter, opened the first game with four kills in the first five points. She finished the first game with seven kills and two aces.

Lucero, a 5'10” senior, was the finishing thrust for Great Falls. Dominating the rest of the match, she finished with nine kills and four blocks.

The size of the front line was too much for the Orediggers. Finishing with only 14 kills in the match, the Montana Tech could not match their front line. Allyse Cruise came up with nine digs in the match following her Frontier Player of the Week honors.

Montana Tech did not fare well against MSU Northern on Saturday either, losing in three straight games. The match was more competitive, losing 25-12, 25-22, and 25-18.

Emily Lobnitz, a freshman from Sunnyvale, TX, had a better game Saturday night. Finishing with 14 kills and a .393 percentage, Lobnitz has shown great improvement filling in for veteran outside hitter Shersteen Cline. Cruise had an improved match as well finishing with 20 digs in the match.

The Lady Orediggers are at home this weekend taking on Westminster College Friday night at 7 PM and Lewis-Clark State College on Saturday at 2 PM.