Sept. 8, 2001

Stats

BOZEMAN, Mont. - Aimee Halyk and Falin Schaefer led all players with 14 and 13 kills, respectively, as Montana State remained perfect with a 3-0 (30-28, 30-28, 30-23) win over the University of Denver in volleyball action Saturday night in the MSU Holiday Inn Classic. With the win, the Bobcats earn the tournament title for the fourth straight year.

In both of the first two games, the teams were deadlocked at 28-all before Montana State (8-0) pulled away for the wins. The teams were relatively even statistically at that point: Denver had 28 kills to MSU's 32, and both teams were hitting well below .100. Although both teams slammed 17 kills in the third game, the Bobcats picked up the pace and hit .382 to Denver's .225 to pull away and close out the match.

Senior outside hitter Kellie Savage (Arvada, Colo. / Arvada West HS) led the Pioneers with 10 kills, sophomore right-side hitter Olympia Hughes (Casper, Wyo. / Natrona County HS) added a team-high 12 digs, and sophomore middle blocker Andrea Baron (West Vancouver, British Columbia / West Vancouver HS) had a match-high-tying six blocks for Denver (4-4).

Savage and sophomore middle blocker Laurie Young (Fort Collins, Colo. / Fort Collins HS), who celebrated her 21st birthday on Saturday, both made the all-tournament team.

"We made a bunch of errors at the end of each of the three games. If we would have won either of the first two games, things might have gone differently for us," said head coach Beth Kuwata. "Tonight we played a team that was just as physical along the net as we are, if not more so. They controlled the net tonight."

The Pioneers head up U.S. 36 for a Front Range matchup with Colorado in Boulder this Tuesday before returning home this weekend for the annual Pioneer Classic. Denver will face Siena on Friday before hosting Bowling Green and Miami (Ohio) on Saturday.