HELENA -- Kinnidi Willmore surpassed the 1,000 career kill mark, leading the way in the Montana Tech volleyball team's 25-22, 25-21, 23-25, 25-23 win over Dakota State in the quarterfinal round of the Frontier Conference tournament Thursday afternoon in the Carroll College PE Center.
Willmore put down a team-high 15 kills in the Oredigger win, giving the senior and two-time all-conference outside hitter 1,004 for her Montana Tech career.
Payton Treadwell (14 kills), Kennedy Oman (12), and Talan Dodson (10) joined Willmore with double-digit kills as the Orediggers hit .261 as a team.
Tech's back-row play was also excellent, highlighted by a season-best 28 digs from Brooklynn Hayes and 14 more by Emmy Green. Both served up a pair of aces.
Things didn't start so well for the fifth-seeded Orediggers (17-12). Dakota State began the match with a 5-1 run before Tech found its feet.
A 4-0 run of their own helped the Diggers tie the opener, and then the match was on. The teams were tied five more times before Montana Tech found another run, this one a 5-0 barrage with a pair of kills each from Treadwell and Oman around one of Green's aces. Tech led the rest of the way and won the set. Willmore had six kills in the opener.
The second was much of the same. Things were close in the early going before Montana Tech's attack took over. Willmore spiked five more kills, her final one giving the Orediggers a 17-11 advantage and the senior her 1,000th.
After Dakota State (16-13) won the third, the Orediggers buckled down in the fourth for a wire-to-wire win. Treadwell put down two kills to get Tech off to a 3-0 start, and the Orediggers never relinquished the lead. DSU did rally back in the late going, cutting the deficit to 21-20 before Dodson, Abby Clark, and Treadwell came up with key spikes in the late going that cinched the win.
It was Montana Tech's first conference tournament win since the 2020-21 season.
Montana Tech advances to Friday's conference semifinals, where they will take on top-seeded and No. 2-ranked Providence at 5 p.m.
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