Box Score BUTTE -- Montana Tech's volleyball team rallied to erase an early deficit but eventually fell, 25-18, 19-25, 25-16, 25-15, to No. 7-ranked Bellevue Thursday night inside Valley Bank Arena.
Payton Treadwell led the Orediggers with 13 kills and three blocks, while
Kinnidi Willmore registered 10 kills for Tech (14-10, 10-8 Frontier Conference).
Things went Montana Tech's way in the early going. The Orediggers used four straight points to take a 10-7 lead in the first, but then the 2025 NAIA runners-up got going. Bellevue finished the set on a 15-4 run for the early lead.
Montana Tech built the early momentum again in the second, but this time the Orediggers held on. Trailing 4-3, Tech rattled off a 5-0 run and never trailed again. Treadwell helped put the set away with five kills in the frame.
Bellevue (20-3, 16-2) flexed its muscle in the final two sets, however, and put the match away.
The Orediggers got 18 assists from
Ellie Reinertson and 16 from
Rhys Layton, while
Austin Long and
Brooklynn Hayes served three aces apiece.
Montana Tech will take the weekend off before returning to conference play next Friday, October 31 at home against Rocky Mountain at 7 p.m.
Visit Montana Tech athletics' home online, GoDiggers.com, anytime for up-to-the-minute news and coverage of the Orediggers. Give Montana Tech athletics a like on Facebook, and follow the Orediggers on X and Instagram at @DiggerAthletics.
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